The Social Net Works

Here are three main points I gathered from this week's "readings" about social networking:

1. Social networks can be useful

Why else would President Obama have Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace accounts, especially when he (most likely) doesn't even personally use them? One of the reasons why "he" uses it, and this came up in Elaine Child's teaching article, is that people are already on these sites. Centralized communication can be immensely helpful: I love having a mobile device with a universal email inbox--yesterday I got an email from my sister a few hours after she sent it. If I didn't have a way of connecting all my email inboxes to one spot I wouldn't have gotten that email until lots later...like days or weeks later. It's the same with social networks; by connecting interactions with different groups to one location, communication can be much quicker and easier. I also really liked the point brought up in the "in plain English" video--social networks are no longer limited to one step ahead, but can stretch out forever.

I phrased this point "can be" useful, because I didn't want to imply that they inherently are helpful. I don't want to speculate too much here (I'm one of those people who don't have a Facebook account...gasp!), so I'll leave it to the other two sections.

2. Social networks can be addicting

I loved the conclusion of the Twouble with Twitters. I believe there are real stories of people posting constantly to twitter/Facebook (the woman--although I believe she was the wife of one of Twitter's founders--twittering while giving birth, or the teens who fell down a well and updated their Facebook instead of calling 911, etc.).

Like many other tools/pass-times, there is too much of a good thing and people who don't know when that is. Just because some people use social networks in certain unhealthy ways, doesn't nullify these programs' benefits. Their addictive nature is something to consider, but not a deal-breaker, for me at least.

3. Social networks can have security issues

Here's a case in point:

I don't know if this is for real, but it's a little scary to think about.

In all fairness though, all human interactions have privacy issues. Even if I locked myself in my house--with bars on the windows and a dozen deadbolts, of course--there's still the danger of someone breaking in. It's silly to think online presences wouldn't pose the same risks, although knowing the risks and taking the precautions can definitely minimize the danger. Face-to-face interactions also have privacy/security issues, though I'm not going to try to name them.

In my opinion, it's not worth dwelling too much on these last two points. Acknowledge the drawbacks of social networks and take advantage of the benefits--I'm planning on starting a Facebook account over Thanksgiving break when I have a few free minutes. I also admit thinking about how I would use Facebook and Twitter as a teaching tool.

posted by: RICHARD SAMUELSON (sorry, I logged in as the wrong account again)