Thing Twenty-one: Other Social Networks

Online social networks can be good if they focus on a group with similar interests. The social network can be a great place for the exchanging of ideas and information. That said, I think the 23 Things on a Stick Ning would have been better served to ask about favorite books than to ask about marital status.

I think WebJunction is a great social network for library media workers in Minnesota. I attended a WebJunction session at the MEMO conference in Brainerd and was intrigued by the webinars they offer free to members. I think as the online technology improves, WebJunction will be an invaluable site for librarians to learn and discuss new technology and trends.

Thing Twenty B: MySpace

I chose part B because I am not ready to start up a social network account. I thought the MySpace pages of the Denver and Minneapolis public libraries contained a lot of images and little text. The pages seemed to have a lot of flash with little substance. I did like that the Denver page contained links to websites that can help teens with homework, but I did not like that music played automatically on the page. The schools where I work do not allow access to MySpace. Some argue that students care about MySpace, and we should allow them access to what they are interested in. Based on what I have seen and heard about MySpace pages created by teens, I disagree.

Addendum: Now that I have learned more about Facebook, and now that my wife has joined the social network to keep in contact with her friends, I have changed my mind about student access to online social networks. As teachers, we should allow students to have access to social networks in schools so that we can teach them what is acceptible to post, and what is unacceptable (i.e. personal information, bullying, illegal activities).