Thing #18

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001500521429

I believe it is important for teachers to know how social networking sites operate because it is a big part of today's society. As teachers, we are social engineers that is we get students to interact with each other. In knowing how to use social networking sites, teachers have the opportunity to teach the students the appropriate ways in which to communicate. Also, the teacher can implement social networking sites into the classroom. This may engage the students more since they are already so tied up in Facebook and Twitter anyways. While exploring Facebook, I found that you can create private groups for whatever you need. For a classroom, you could set up a group for only your class for discussions or announcements. Facebook appealed more to me because it was easier to navigate. It also had more features that I could use in a classroom. As for Twitter, I personally do not fully understand the significance.  Following the flow or whatever it is called is strange to me, and doesn't appear as a good means of communication. Using Facebook in the classroom would prove to be more practical for me.I really liked the fact that you could create private groups and are allowed to share longer messages than on Twitter. However, I would only use a social network in a high school classroom. I don't think it would work well in elementary school.