Social+Networking

UWhat is it?
===Dante Vogel- Social networking is the grouping of people into specific groups. It can be done in person, but it is most popular to do online. Social networking online allows for people from all over the world to meet, talk, and discuss anything that they want. Examples of social networking are facebook and myspace. These are popular places for people to make friends.===

​Social networks are (most commonly) websites that allow us to make connections to other people. These connections can be used for any purpose: love interests, friends, or even job hunting. Social networks allow us to view the connections between ourselves and what is commonly referred to as our "friends" or "followers" as well as look at connections between our "friends" or "followers" and their "friends" thus linking us to more and more people. Here is a great link to understand a basic overview of what social networking is: [|Youtube Link] (Sam Green)

**How does it work?**
===**Dante Vogel- Social networking is mostly done online using websites. These are called social sites. It works as an online community of people. A person must get access to the site, and then they are allowed to socialize. This allows for friendships to be made and networks to be created. People can send, receive, and discuss information on these websites. There are millions of communities one could join once they are accepted into the social network.**===

Once a person finds a social networking site they would like to use (for example Myspace or Facebook), they sign up for the site. They then create a profile. This profile can be personalized depending on the social networking site and what they support. Through this site, a person can look up people they know and socialize and share information. People can also search for your profile and ask to become part of your social networking site in order to share information with you. (Sam Green)

Why would a K-12 teacher use it?
===Dante Vogel- K-12 teachers could use social networking for their own career interests. There is a social network called classroom 2.0 that is for teachers. They can go there and network with other teachers for their own personal professional development. Teachers can also use social networks to set up groups or pages for their students to answer questions on and discuss topics through. This also gives students an opportunity to get to know their classmates better and share information about their studies. ===

Using a social networking site is a great opportunity for a teacher to 1.) provide an outside community for the classroom and 2.) create an environment in which the students feel safe to ask for help or share ideas concerning a class. (Sam Green).

Provide examples for K-12 education:
===Dante Vogel- An example of examples of social networking in education is creating a facebook group to get an assignment done for class. A facebook group could also allow a student to complete a survey or research project. Another example is just allowing students to share information on a website like what we are doing for this assignment. This is a slideshow that shows how social networking relates to education.===

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A teacher could create (for example) a Facebook page for his/her class. His/her class could then use this page as space to ask one another for help, or even ask the teacher for help as well as create a community. The teacher could even start a "discussion" and make responding mandatory. Overall, social networking sites are a great opporunity for students to interact with each other, just as [|this article] suggests. (Sam Green)