Social+Networking+Tools

Social networking tools are websites or software applications that allow users to create profiles and interact with other users. Some of these are multipurpose, like [|Facebook]. Since Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004, it has come a long way from being a website where only students with .edu email addresses could create an account to being a site with over 200 million members from all around the globe who use it as forum for establishing and maintaining both professional and personal connections.

Other social networking websites, like [|LinkedIn], however are geared more specifically towards professional users. The LinkedIn website proudly claims that it has more than 45 million members who use the site to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. In the past year, millions of people have also started using [|Twitter], a social networking tool and microblogging service through which users communicate almost exclusively via 140-character messages. Here is a short video explaining the social networking and microblogging capabilities of Twitter:

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Social networking tools have traditionally been used online, however, as more and more people carry cell phones and use BlackBerrys, iPhones and other multipurpose handheld devices, social networks have been quick to offer versions of their tools that can be used on the go. Indeed, in the case of Twitter, the cell phone or handheld device is the most commonly used hardware, because people can "tweet" and receive their friends' tweets via text messages. The importance of Twitter as a social networking tool became evident on October 9th, 2009, when Twitter crashed as millions of users around the world joined in the debate over whether US President Barack Obama deserved the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Twitter's growing popularity as a teaching tool was demonstrated when Marquette University recently offered faculty the chance to learn how to use this tool for pedagogical purposes in the [|Twitter For Professors] workshop.

In using these tools for hybrid classes, it would be important to take into account how these technologies are unique. Students who have access to a cell phone or BlackBerry-type device would find it easier to access these tools than those who don't. (The fact that most students do have access to such technology does not mean we should discount those who don't.)

If we were to communicate with students through tools like Facebook or Twitter, we would have to protect our own privacy and encourage them to protect theirs. A teacher would have to be careful to only post appropriate material, and not to invade the privacy of students, or even be seen to do so. In effect, this might mean both teacher and students having a separate "professional" profile for class use.

T hese tools could be used to form a social bond between students, since students may well read these tools as social almost by default. Also, since students will be already familiar with these tools, there will be (in most cases) no need to have them become familiar with a new tool. >