Thing #18 has me all 'atwitter'

Like many of my classmates, I already had a Facebook page before this class started.  My page is as unpublic as I can make it and still use it.  I really don't want the whole wide world to have access to my life.  I don't publish that much on Facebook.  I mainly use it to post pictures of my daughter so friends and family can see her.  It's also been a good way to keep in touch with people I had lost track of,  like my best friend from Junior High.  Anyway, I won't be posting a link to my Facebook page to this blog but I will post a link to my Twitter page.Twitter  I never used Twitter until this class.  Honestly I'm not sure you can say I've actually used Twitter since I've never Tweeted.  I am a Twitter eavesdropper.  I follow people and listen in on their conversations but so far have not been inspired to join in.  I think Twitter is designed for people with smart phones that can connect to the internet and post highly urgent information like "I really want a Starbucks right now".  I don't have a smart phone.  I guess it's not completely stupid, it can take pictures and send text messages.  I suppose it could connect to the internet if I ever tried to figure it out but I've never felt the need to be that tied to the web.  So, why is it important that educators know how social networking works?  Well, because our students live by social networking.  They don't pass notes on paper in class, they send tweets or text messages.  Students pass gossip around on Facebook and instead of drawing insulting cartoons of one another, post embarrasing photos and videos.  It is important for educators to know how social networking works because we will need to know how to use these aspects of student culture as assets to our teaching.  Not that we need to friend all of our students on our personal Facebook pages, but a classroom page might not be a bad thing and could possibly be used to build classroom unity.  What new insights did I gain about these sites?  Hmmm.  Well I'm not sure I gained any new insights about Facebook and everything about Twitter was new to me.  What did I like and dislike.  Well I like the fact that Facebook lets you post photos and videos and that you can limit who can see your page.  I like the fact that Twitter is such a quick and easy way to get the word out.  Not that every tweet is newsworthy, but many are and the fact that you can get them on your phone (if you so choose) can make them very useful. As for which site has the most useful features I think that depends on what you want to do.  If you just want to send a quick message then I think Twitter is the most useful.  If you want to share photos or more than 140 characters of information, then Facebook is more useful.  I believe that these sites could be used in the classroom or school.  The more popular twitter becomes the more likely it may be to replace texts for emergency notifications.  And as I mentioned earlier in this now very lengthy post, a classroom Facebook page could be useful.  Students are likely chatting with each other on Facebook already so they could use the classroom page to discuss homework and since it's a classroom page the teacher would also be on the page and have the ability to answer questions or even post notices to the class about upcoming assignments or special events.