MySpace has received more than it’s fair share of negative press over the past year or so, as it grew to become the web’s largest social networking site for teens.
However, as any parent and/or teacher knows, teenagers have notoriously short attention spans when it comes to such things. So, the question is, around what site will they congregate next?
If I could answer that, I’d make a fortune. But the writer of this blog post has done some research on the subject and offers profiles of five candidates he says we need to know.
I guess I’m just not paying close enough attention. The only one I’ve heard of and visited is Bebo.
Beyond the basic information, the writer goes on to make an excellent point about these social networking sites.
Social networking is absolutely here to stay – this is not simply a “phenomenon”. The young users of these tools are situating their entire formative internet experience around them – and the affects of this social learning will inform use patterns throughout their life.
That’s a fact that needs to be made absolutely clear to parents.
We also need to convince parents, teachers, and school administrators that we must begin now to educate kids on how to use these sites safely, rather than making a futile attempt to block them.
It would also be nice if we could teach them (and “journalists”) that social networking is not the same as blogging.
Congratulations to us, classroom teachers, for getting through this school year. We survived and thrived despite trying conditions. What are you doing for summer?
I completely agree that social networking sites and for that matter other forms of Internet communication are here to stay. It is as essnetial that we teach students how to be safe online as it is that we continue to permit them to use these communication systems. I recently wrote an article about this on my own blog: http://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogger.html
Andy Pass