Thing # 22

I'm familiar with My Space because my high school son and all his friends have one. I make sure I check it to see what's going with the people he is communicating with. I did find out a few interesting things that I wasn't aware of. I think it's a fun way for people to communicate, but I still worry that something might pop up that shouldn't. This was the first time I've ever been on FaceBook. I do have several friends who are on it and keep wanting me to open my own account. My best friend from high school fills me in on are old friends are doing and I really enjoy looking at their pages. I don't know why, but I feel a little uncomfortable putting my information out there. Maybe it's because it's new to me. It seems weird how you can tag one persons pictures and see all their friends. I'm sure that I will feel more comfortable as time goes. I think the main reason I feel unsure is because I don't quite know how everything works yet. I know that this is the way most people connect today, especially our students. So this is something important for me to learn so I can communicate better with them. I do think is something that is for older students and teachers and parents need to be able to know how to "police" their accounts. I found for me that Myspace was easier to use than facebook. I didn't get as lost playing with everything as I did on Facebook. I think both of these social networking site can have negative (bullying) and positive influences on the teens of today. Positive influences could be collaborating on projects, keeping up with social and extra curricular events. I can't think of anyway I would use either of these sites to teach in the classro0m, but I love to hear ideas.