Many parents, these days, having children at any age, know about Facebook. A social networking site, with over 400 million members, designed by Matthew Zuckerberg, of Boston Massachuttes. The web site was first a afterthought of Matthew and his roomates at college. This social networking site has turned out to be a multi-billion dolllar business used now by high and small businesses, politican, entertainers, civic leaders, social organizations, and mostly by our children.
The appeal continues to explode in all forms of media as well its use by many boarding schools, private schoools, educational consultant, alumni, and current students to inform parents of this ever growing social media. When you want to find out the latest at the school, go to Facebook. When you want to connect all your friends, go to Facebook.
The site can connect virtually every family, friend, or interest, you might have and let others know, your hobbies, your taste in music, whether you are single, need to chat, plan an event, or announce where you will be or planning to attend. Practically everything from talking about global warming, to politics, is on Facebook. Every thing from talk radio stations to global warming and greehouse gases are listed on Facebook.
The Chamber of Commerce is on Facebook, churches or sororieties, frats, area on Facebook, special interest groups, food aid, health care needs, poverty in Africa, China, The war in Iraq, Iran, Afganistain, Military wifes, practically anything you can think about or have interest in.
Kids these days know social networking, probably better, than their parents having an average of 50 text messages sent from sites like Facebook and Twiter. They might even know their own brothers and sisters better on Facebook than they do in the home. At one time, students studied together, there were study halls, assemblies, class project, dances, now these same activities are coordinated using social networking. A student can invite a friend, talk about their interest, find out mutual friends, talk about a school. post a photo, maybe two, maybe a album of photos, to friends near or far. A friend in China can become a friend in Iran or India.
Many consultants are listed on Facebook, organizations can blog, upload a live streaming video announcing an event, post an event, start a discussion group. A virtual learning community can be established in mintues, you can connect to Twitter, send a message in seconds on events at school.
So why are kids bored in school? I had to learn this the hard way, by going back to school myself. I was in graduate school, at the time, and had to learn about social networking late in life. Initally, it was very intriguing. However, I felt more confortable with the tradtional way of learning. Reading the book, digesting the information, and simply sharing the information with my collegues was the usual method. Simple right? Not exactly!
While my experience in social networking has lead me to my own learning, this also lead me to how children learn and how to make it more interesting, more challenging. Facebook offers this global networking that simply can be a learning experience. Many schools now are changing how we learn to what we learn. What we are learning about Facebook among other social networking sites is unbelievable! We are learning that children don't have to read a story to learn how to read. We are learning, that visual learning is changing how we learn. Children of all ages even as young as 5 are able to use Facebook. While the appeal has been more with Asian, students who have at least a Bachelors Degree or higher, students in this country are quickly catching up to the pace of social networking. We don't teach about it much at the secondary level, in fact most public or private school, are just learning, how this tool works. We do know, that Facebook is here to stay. It has parental controls. it has privacy settings, it has live chat, it has instant messenger, it has all the bells and whistles, combined that has taken Yahoo and MSN Messenger years to develop.
In fact, Facebook ranks higher than any other web site, in effectively social networking. Who is on Facebook? Sarah Palin, John Mc Cain, Michelle Obama, Oprah, Barak Obama, Brian Williams, Carly Simon, Sophia Loren, practically anyone you can name. We think by allowing students to understand how to communicate on Facebook, potentially they could learn a wealth of information. What is Facebook all about? Are you using social media in you classroon? How is it being used? When did you first hear about Facebook? Are you aware Facebook was developed by college students? Are you able to use Facebook in the classroom if you are a teacher? Is it more effective in teaching or learning with your child? How could you teach you child using Facebook?
