A lot to think about…

I just finished viewing dana boyd’s (not a capitalization error, this is how she spells it) video “Living and Learning with Social Media” and I’m still trying to figure out all of the implications of her talk on Teens and Social Networks. It was refreshing to hear that todays teens are basically socializing and expressing themselves in the same ways, just using different technologies instead of sensationalizing all the negative aspects that get all the attention in the media. According to this presentation, teens are using MySpace and Facebook to keep in contact with an existing network of friends and are not usually actively seeking new friends. Their pages are personalized to express themselves, and many use false information the system requires to set up  a page – birth dates, places etc – but their friends will already know the real information.  Frankly, I like hearing this in this day of identity theft and when child predators  have an anonymous way of stalking our kids.

The teen is writing not only for themselves, but for the list of friends on a site –  the audience. The comments left on the site take the form of conversations heard in schools, hallways, and offices all over North America – “Hi, what are you doing?”. Boyd refers to this a “social grooming” – a way of saying “I like you” – because people (not only teens) want to be seen as having friends. The deep meaningful conversations happen with “private” chats. These sites provide a way for teens to “hang out” together when they can’t meet face to face because of curfews or restrictions placed on the teens and provide a chance to develop social skills.

Boyd brings up some interesting implications of these sites and their use in the classroom. These are social sites – and the social framework they take place in will be brought into the classroom. Not all students want to be friends with everyone in the class - unpopular kids will have that stigma dragged into the classroom as well as having to face it outside.  Social drama will still take place in negotiations for who gets to be in the top 8 friends on a teens page and being dropped from this list can cause major “trama” and possible classroom disruptions. She also brings up some topics (besides basic security issues) we should be covering in classes even if we don’t use social media in our classrooms. Teens – anyone – who uses social media and the net should be aware of the differences between sharing this face to face with a friend, and sharing it online. These differences include:

Persistence: what you say sticks around for a long time, and you may never be able to “take” something back. Something to think about before posting video or pictures of yourself or friends – do you want others to see it? Do you trust that your current friends will always be your best friends? When you deactivate your Facebook account – how long do they keep your information saved?

Replicability: messages can be rapidly cut and pasted and edited, don’t believe everything you read – think “urban legends”.

Scalability: something you send to one person can be spread quickly to unintended audiences – especially embarrassing or humiliating information that others may find funny. How do you think the “boy with light saber” feels about that video (if you haven’t seen it, good for you!)

Public vs Private: what is private? According to boyd, teens feel it is where they have control – not at home where they are subject to parents rules, but online with what they post privately. The question is – just how private is that?

A final observation from boyd – we need to be aware of who we want to reach when we use social media. There appears to be a “class” split on users of Facebook (the upper class achievers of highschool) and MySpace (the lower “classes” of highschool students).  If we just use one method, are we ignoring part of our student body?

I think I am also beginning to understand why I have such difficulty with “getting” social networking. Growing up, I was always an introvert or “loner”. I guess I never saw the need for developing a lot of social skills (or was to shy) and I’m not sure I ever did… I still am not comfortable with large groups of people I don’t know.  I wonder how much more social I would be  if these networks had been around 30 years ago…   I may never utilize any of these applications in my personal life, but I now want to know more about them so I can help my students (and kids) avoid some of the potential pitfalls associated with them.

Some help for those like me who sometimes need the “for dummies” versions of things:

Social Media in Plain English (an ice cream analogy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE&NR=1 and

Twitter in Plain English - a very basic introduction of why people use it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=channel

“See” you all Tuesday night!

Greg

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