Does Social Networking have a place in education?

Photo by Ludwig GatzkeWhen I refer to the term “social networking”, I am referring to the online sites and applications whose sole purpose is to connect people in a social manner. The most common social networking sites include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Flickr, and deviantART, to name a few. I believe that there is a limit to what types of social networking should be used in education, and here’s why.

What does social networking do?
Each social networking platform has a purpose. MySpace is a site set up to encourage socializing among individuals who may or may not know each other, complete with glitter backgrounds, homepage songs, lots of clipart and more. Facebook is the collegiate version of MySpace. Without all the bells and whistles, Facebook is a safe space to network with others. Lastly, LinkedIn was set up to filter all of the extraneous noise and allow professionals to network with other professionals.

Personal Spaces
However, the three spaces I just listed are meant for individuals to set up personal spaces. People like having the option of who they want to share that information with. No individual should be forced to share their information with a teacher, colleague or peer. For this reason alone, no student should be forced to connect with classmates and their instructor on these applications.

What can be used in education?
Other social networking platforms, meant for sharing content, can be used for education. Flickr can be used to share images. Twitter can be used to share questions, short answers, and comments on class work. DeviantART can be used to share art work. These three social networking sites are meant to share content, vs. personal information. Therefore, they can be used in education.