Blog #7 - Facebook (Social Networking)

“Umm, will you be my friend?” Being ‘friends’ with someone is what social networking is all about and according to eBizMBA, Facebook is the most frequented social networking site. If you’re like me you probably already use Facebook and have heard of MySpace, Twitter and Classmates.com. However, there are a number of others, such as Linkedin, Ning, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster, that are also pretty popular. The social networking site or sites that you use may correlate to your age, job or social interests, as suggested by Danah Boyd. Watch the Common Craft Video by leelefever (located in this blog post) in order to gain a good understanding of what a social networking site is. For a more in depth study of a social networking site, I encourage you to network with me as I explore how Facebook works and how this web 2.0 technology has impacted me personally and professionally.

Reflections on learning to use Facebook

Like other web 2.0 tools, Facebook is easy to sign-up to and ‘friendly’ to use. In order to sign-up you must be 13 years of age or older and have an active e-mail address; you also need to state if you are a male or a female, your first and last name and your birth date. However, as long as you indicate that you are 13 or older and supply an active e-mail address, all information is supplied by the user and may or may not reflect the actual user. As a user you can set up your profile, based on specific categories of information – basic, personal, and contact, that you can control the privacy settings limiting what certain categories of friends and others outside of your network can see. From this set-up stage all you need to do is locate some friends using the ‘Find Friends’ function. This is efficiently done by using your contacts in your e-mail account or by searching for specific people, similar to searching on the internet; however to further simplify the process Facebook also suggests friends for you based on your friends’ friends. The bottom line – it is pretty easy to acquire ‘friends’ on Facebook. Facebook allows you to send private messages via your ‘Inbox,’ write on a friends ‘wall’ and/or update your ‘status.’ Additionally, you can also upload and share pictures, videos links and participate in games such as Scrabble and Farmville. Users should be aware that these types of games are referred to as third party applications and have their own privacy policy. The nature of social networking sites is to obviously network, thus Facebook also enables users to create and join groups.

Facebook’s privacy policy is both convoluted and complex. Users should definitely read the policy and alter their privacy settings according to their needs. Click here to view the Facebook privacy policy. In particular, users should take the following information from Facebook’s privacy policy into consideration when signing up and using the site:

Sharing information on Facebook. We designed our privacy settings to enable you to control how you share your information on Facebook. You should review the default privacy settings to make sure they reflect your preferences. Here are some specific things to remember:- You can control the visibility of most of the information you share on Facebook through the privacy settings you select. - Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available, and therefore do not have privacy settings. (We will soon stop using regional networks, but your geographic region will still be considered publicly available). You can limit the ability of others to find this information on third party search engines through your search privacy settings. - Some of the content you share and the actions you take will show up on your friends’ home pages and other pages they visit.- Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users.- You understand that information might be re-shared or copied by other users.- Certain types of communications that you send to other users cannot be removed, such as messages.- When you post information on another user’s profile or comment on another user’s post, that information will be subject to the other user’s privacy settings. - If you use an external source to publish information to Facebook (such as a mobile application or a Connect site), you should check the privacy setting for that post, as it is set by that external source.

Although social networking is the premise of web 2.0 technologies, please remember to network responsibly!

Facebook – For my own Personal Learning

Prior to this past summer, Facebook was the only web 2.0 technology that I was actively using (and aware of). I originally joined Facebook in order to connect with people for a reunion. When I began I was careful to limit the amount of personal information that I shared. For example, I included an ambiguous picture of myself, stated that I’m married and that I am currently living in Alberta, but have close ties to New Zealand. I’ve now been a Facebook user for two and a half years and this information remains unaltered. Additionally, I have not uploaded any photos or videos (I remove my name if I’ve been tagged in someone else’s photos) and I’ve only ever updated my status once. The interesting part of all of this is that I ‘check’ my Facebook account at least once a day! Why? To stay connected of course! Because of my profession I don’t feel comfortable sharing my personal information, but I am eager to connect with others and although I don’t share publicly I frequently use my Facebook ‘Inbox’ to privately e-mail my friends. I enjoy the networking that this site enables users to engage in, particularly with those people who I would have otherwise lost contact with, and I expect to be a Facebook user in years to come.

Although there are oodles of benefits (personally and professionally) to being a Facebook user, there is also a vast grey area that I’m not a fan of, primarily in relation to the privacy policy. Even after reading the policy a number of times, I’m still not 100% sure that I fully understand it. Specifically, I am confused about who ‘owns’ my information and photo; how my information is being used (but not shared) to select advertising to meet my interests; and how the plethora of privacy settings really work to protect my information. And adding to the confusion are third party applications that use the Facebook platform, but (once you agree) have access to your information and utilize it based on their own privacy statement. Based on the number of Facebook users I get the impression that many people are simply not worried about this potential breech of information, but there are others who do. As I’ve previously stated in a class discussion, one of those other ‘people’ is The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada who has had multiple complaints about Facebook which include, “included default privacy settings, collection and use of users’ personal information for advertising purposes, disclosure of users’ personal information to third-party application developers, and collection and use of non-users’ personal information (Denham, 2009).” The full report can be viewed at: http://www.priv.gc.ca/cf-dc/2009/2009_008_0716_e.cfm . Some of these complaints have been addressed by Facebook by making the privacy information more accessible to the users, but in the meantime I’m going to act professionally in terms of the information that I place on social networking sites.



In addition to being a Facebook user, I am also a member of a couple of Ning sites and just this past week an acquaintance requested me to become a Linkedin user, which is a social networking site for professionals. I haven’t yet responded to this request, but a professional networking site sounds promising (provided the privacy policy is transparent). In order to expand my workings with Facebook I’ve recently become friends with Toys "R" Us Canada and ja.de classroom of creations to see how it is possible to network with businesses. In the last three weeks I’ve noted that the toy store uses Facebook to advertise new products and to let potential customers know when hard-to-get toys have arrived at specific locations, while the other website encourages its followers to view examples of new products and creative ideas (which are often attuned to the seasons). This is a powerful way to advertise, particularly because I’m interested in the products and it is getting close to Christmas. To become my Facebook friend, simply let me know what your user name is in the comment box below this blog post and I’ll hook you up! In the meantime I’m going to update my ‘status’ for the second time ever! Oh hang on a minute… I just updated my status to say, “My second status update ever… Who reads this stuff?” and it only took 11 minutes before one of my friends replied!

Facebook – for my Professional Learning

If someone asked me a few months ago what I thought of social networking sites, particularly Facebook, in terms of their educational value or even their place in education in general, I would have raised my eyebrows, smiled and shook my head (while thinking in my head that they are a donut – nothing sharp about them). Now that I’ve been learning about web 2.0 technologies and expanding my thoughts about their purpose in education, I have a different story to tell. Before you get too excited, let me just state that the remainder of my lessons for this school year are not going to necessarily utilize Facebook (even if it wasn’t blocked at the school I teach in), but I do think that it has a place in the education system. For example Facebook is a great way to network with my colleagues and can also be used to connect with parents via a medium that they are probably familiar with. This is particularly important when it is extremely taxing to convince parents to attend conferences or to make them aware of school-wide and classroom activities. I still feel that becoming friends with my students is unprofessional, however I could easily be convinced to create a professional account for my students and parents that is separate from my personal life, as this is a great way to further connect with my students in ‘their’ environment. If students are going to be using web 2.0 tools, then teachers should also be using the tools, not only to remain current with technology, but to have an understanding of the technologies in order to teach students how to use them appropriately. I feel strongly that schools should be teaching students internet safety skills, as in many cases this is not being taught at home. Furthermore, this avoids sending the message to our 21st century learners that social networking is bad or wrong, because it isn’t and when it is used properly can become a powerful educational tool. For example, students can network with each other regarding homework or by sharing their creative abilities, whether it is writing poetry, podcasting a weekly radio show or using their acting/producing abilities to create a YouTube video. For the English Language Learners (ELLs) that I teach, Facebook is yet another way for them to practice their language skills in an authentic situation. For further information regarding Facebook or other social networking sites in education, check out the following sites:

- Thanks for the Add. Now Help Me with My Homework By Michael Blanding – one of my favourite articles on the subject, really explains social networking and puts it in its place regarding its use in education.

- Scaffolding the New Social Literacies By Stephen Abram – discusses the popularity of social networking sites and how they relate to kids.

- Facebook – An Educational Resource? By Doug Johnson – writes about using Facebook in an educational setting.

- The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500 By Gary Hamel – suggests that the way businesses function may be changing (or has already changed) as a result of social networking.

Although there are many educational uses for Facebook, I’ve personally found that the Ning social networking site is an excellent way to enhance my professional development opportunities with like-minded individual from around the globe. In her article entitled Social Networking: The Ning’s the Thing, Traci Gardner explains how Nings work. If you are an educator, I suggest that you sing up to Ning today. I’m a member of the following networks for educators (use my last name to locate me): Classroom 2.0, EFL Classroom 2.0, Flat Classrooms, and OZ/NZ Educators. I’ve been so busy following these Ning networks that I haven’t had a chance to create my own, but I’m interested in creating one for our school community, as it may help students and teachers to connect across grade levels (I work in a preschool to grade 9 school).

Here are some of the pros and cons regarding the use of social networking sites in the classroom:

Pros
Easy to use
Encourages collaboration/networking
Other applications are compatible with Facebook
Can stimulate higher order thinking skills
Connect/share with others locally or from around the world
Real audience
Allows for differentiated instruction
Creates excitement (engaged students)
Deepens understanding of a topic
Supports inclusive education
Educators can collaborate with colleagues
Able to adjust many of the privacy settings
Medium for professional development

Cons
Privacy could be an issue, as the policy is confusing
Negative outcomes (e.g. embarrassment)
May not feel confident or comfortable to use/share
Inaccurate information is possible
Content may not be considered professional or appropriate