In which social networks are explained along with other amazing feats
Posted By Kevin Gaugler on December 13, 2008
In a previous post Barbara described the power of social networks to create real change in the world. In this post I would like to discuss how, as instructors, many of us view social networks as silly, foreign and time consuming. It’s no wonder that we so quickly shy away from participating in online social networks.
If you work on a college campus in the United States, then the term social network is practically synonymous with Facebook, even though recent data shows MySpace as the dominant social network in the country. The most popular social network in any given country or campus, however, will not necessarily constitute the most useful to an academic. Although I feel comfortable with technology, I use Facebook infrequently and then just to keep in touch with close friends. I have yet to find a use in my life, personal or otherwise, for MySpace.
Meanwhile, I have witnessed my Millennial students’ preference for Facebook. It’s the first place my students go to when sitting down at a computer terminal. A recent survey from eROI concluded that a college student’s preferred means of communication is actually text messaging (37%), followed by e-mail (26%). However eROI split the social networking category between “social networking instant messaging” (15%) and social networking email (11%). If you add the two together (26%) it’s equal to email. However, the study also found that students mostly use their e-mail in order to purchase something or to keep tabs on their social network. Read/Write Web describes the study in more detail.
If anything, the eROI study illustrates that our students’ system of communication appears be quite different from that of our colleagues. As such, conflicts might arise between these two entities given that universities often struggle to understand a complex reptoire of communicative tool sets embraced by the student body. If you haven’t already heard about it, watch this Spring 2008 Canadian news report about a Ryerson University student charged with academic misconduct for creating a Facebook study group. The interviewee makes some good points about how universities must shift their practices to accommodate not only the way students now communicate and learn but the medium they choose for their learning.
While I find my students gravitating to online networks , I will assert here that most of my colleagues would not want to dedicate as much time as their students do to “groom” their social relationships via such networks. Frankly, sites like Facebook require a lot of time to build a network. Once a network is established, it requires even more time to maintain, particularly when you see that many of our students have reached or surpassed the sacred Dunbar number which marks the limit of a group’s ability to maintain meaningful relationships beyond 150 people. I have met several well-intentioned instructors who created Facebook accounts only to play with the site’s interface a bit before losing interest, since it takes time to make and cultivate “friends” online and most working professionals don’t have that much time.
So I am not advocating instructors use their precious time to become “friends” with their students on Facebook. In fact, I find it the wrong tool to use with students since my undergraduates view it as their place to interact socially and informally with their friends, and not as the medium for their professional or academic endeavors. I like to think of Facebook as if it were the campus gym; it’s technically an open space for both faculty and students, but it’s a little awkward to exercise next to your professor and vice versa. I do know some who have had sucess with Facebook in the classroom, but I have yet to feel comfortable enough with the site to attempt a classroom assignment.
If you are a busy working professional in academia (and who isn’t?), I recommend minimalist social networks such as Twitter or Diigo. Whereas Facebook is a social network that focuses on who you are and who you know, I consider Twitter and Diigo to be networks about what you know and who you follow (and what they know). With Twitter, you only share concise bits of information with your followers—140 characters or less. In the case of Diigo, you simply share bookmarks with your community by clicking the “bookmark” button on Diigo’s toolbar in your browser and labeling the entry. Some of my most valuable research discoveries have come from these two sites and because my “friendships” on these sites are based on our shared knowledge creation, participation does not involve the kind of arduous commitment of social interaction sites such as Facebook.
Despite the streamlined structure of these networks, you should approach Twitter and Diigo with a dose of realism as Alan Levine’s Twitter Life Cycle chart suggests below. As with any social space, it may at first seem awkward when you enter by yourself. Until you have time to mingle and make the kinds of connections that will demonstrate the place’s value to you, you might have to figuratively stand against the wall and observe the crowd.
Why do you think it takes some time to find its usefulness?
To not feel like a virtual wall flower, I invite you to connect with Barbara and me on Twitter and Diigo. You can find links to our profiles at the top left-hand corner of this page. At the very least, try searching these sites with keywords from your field and see what you discover— I think you might be surprised at what you find. To search on Twitter, go to http://search.twitter.com. Searching on Diigo is a bit more intuitive. Once you sign-up for a Diigo account, you will see a search box for the site. For more information, you can check out our earlier post and podcast on Diigo.
I’ll leave you with a video about how businesses are using Twitter to conduct research about their brands. Simply imagine any key word in your field in place of the word “brands” in the video and the advice could be applied to your field of research. Finally we welcome you to let us know (via Twitter and Diigo) if you think these new tools can and should be used in education.
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