Social Networking Lab

photo © 2010 Marc Smith | more info

I think I could probably rate in order of importance the number of social networking tools I use during the course of my professional work week. So let me just do that!

1. Twitter

This is undoubtedly my number one social networking tool. If I'm walking in between classrooms or meeting I'll go through a couple of tweets on Tweetdeck on my iPhone. It's not a conscious thing anymore I just do it as part of my day's work-flow. During the course of a work week you get to keep on top of what educators around your region of the world are up to in their schools and you get to become a part of their reflections and brainstorming.
A lot of newcomers to Twitter ask "Well what if you miss something, there is just so much tweets!". My response to that is " Well, miss it!". If something monumental goes by it will get re-tweeted enough for you to see later.

photo © 2009 Matt Hamm | more info(via: Wylio)

The main aspect of Twitter that students and other teachers need to overcome at the start of getting into it is that they must have a concrete focus. I, of course, chose a professional focus and that's the way I approach introducing Twitter to my colleagues; get a focus, get following and get followed, share thinking and ideas and then install a Twitter client to get a work-flow established.

2. Facebook

I keep Facebook for purely social purposes and it does play a large part in my socially networked life. I use it to keep up to date with friends and family only although through gaining friendships through Twitter this has crossed over a little bit in recent times. I have yet to hear or see any powerful uses of Facebook in the classroom. Within a primary school setting I know the students use Facebook as a glorified gaming platform so any attempt to use it in education would take a major shift in thinking from our students (and teachers!).
photo © 2007 AJ Cann | more info(via: Wylio)

Of course you can become fans of clubs and associations on Facebook but in my opinion this is of little value as the discussion forums and the actual valuable connections made are minimal. So the jury is out on any professional implications Facebook may have.

3. Nings

I'm a member of quite a few Nings but, to be honest, I rarely visit any of them! There are just too much and too many to avail of any real positive results from them with no real way of centrally collating any of the information on them. Checking some of the discussion forums just recently on a couple of Nings they are no doubt used but nowhere near the amount of traffic you will get on Twitter.

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn has reared it's head rather recently for me and it's another interesting factor to the social networking scene. From my initial experience with it there is minimal discussion and is used rather for connecting people you work with now. I have no stories of jobs being offered or people being headhunted through it which is obviously one of main goals of the website. Again, I have not had any positive experiences through LinkedIn yet and is nowhere near Twitter in terms of collaborations and making meaningful connections.

So, in conclusion, I think Twitter has overwhelmed any other aspect of my professional social networks. It is just too efficient, effective and effortless in gaining and sharing information and connections for any other platforms to compete with it. Facebook will, for the time being, be my conduit for keeping up with friends and family. The other platforms we have mentioned are mere peripheries at this stage which may be dipped into from time to time but at the minute play minor roles in my professional and personal social networks.