To be Social or Not. That is the question.

Brian Mathews begins Chapter 7 “Online Social Networking” by stating, “It’s not what you know, but who you know” (Courtney, 2007). In today’s society of social networking and all the different apps that people use to network there is never a truer statement. The allure of social networking is not just being able to connect with family and friends, but it allows the user to connect globally and expand the user’s social realm. I can remember when I joined Facebook in 2007. I started out with only a few friends and my co-workers that were my friends and now I am friends with people all over the world. Just as my networking has grown, the types of social networking apps that are available to everyone have increased dramatically. Many people still look at Facebook and Twitter as the two that is most used, but within the world of a teenager WeChat, Vine, and Flickr are the three most used mobile apps among teenagers. (Olson, 2013) How do we as educators use these social networking apps to entice our students and enhance the learning environment and should these networks be allowed in the classroom?

I was shocked to read that in 2008 the ALA launched a survey on the use of social networking tools by school library media specialist and teacher collaborators. They found that 53% of educators used some sort of collaborative tools to aid instruction. I can honestly say that in the school where I taught in 2008, social media was not used, nor would the words classroom and social media had been spoken in the same sentence. Forty-one percent used podcast and Twenty-nine percent used blogs.  But the one finding that I could not believe was that “integrating social networking tools into instruction is widely accepted by public and private school alike” (Americal Library Association, 2008) In 2008, I knew from experience that Facebook was looked down upon and with great ire from the higher ups at my school system’s Superintendent’s Office. There was no way Facebook or any other social media would be used as a tool in a classroom. It took five long years for my system and many others to understand that Facebook and other social media’s, if used correctly and supervised correctly, could be a highly rated tool among educators and students.

Although teachers and students love to use social media for personal use, finding ways to incorporate it into the classroom and school can sometimes be difficult. I incorporated Facebook and Skype into my Gifted 8^th Grade ELA class last year. We partnered with an ELA class in New Castle Upon Tyne in the United Kingdom. Students read the same books and collaborated on projects and written assignments together; all the while using Facebook to communicate. They loved when it would be Skpye days and they would meet in my classroom at 8:00 a.m. and talk with the other students. These students also used Flickr to take pictures and share with them with the students in New Castle. For many, this was a time to see a different part of the world, maybe a part they would never see. It certainly opened several of their eyes to what is out there.

When I began working as a Media Specialist this Fall I wondered how I could incorporate a new network I had recently learned about in the Media Center. It is called LibraryThing. LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application where you can store and share book catalogs with others. I use something similar with my book club called Good Reads, but liked LibraryThing for school. I researched how it would be used and decided to give it a whirl and my readers love it! They log on to the website and search a book they are wanting to read and read the reviews or use the tags to find books under a specific subject or genre. LibraryThing enhances their experience in the Media Center. It allows them to have a voice in what they are reading. Most importantly, they don’t have to wait until they return to school to use LibraryThing. It is accessible where ever there is Internet.

I am a huge advocate in using and incorporating social media in the classrooms and schools, but I also realize that there are downfalls to this practice. To make using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other social media a success educators and students have to follow guidelines when using them. Supervision is a must and teachers must keep a watchful eye out for any illegal sites and cyber-bullying.

Just like everything in life, you make the experience what you put in to it. Make the experience fun and exciting for your students. Take a leap of faith and try social media, you will see your students open up and embrace assignments and you will love watching them learn.