Social Media Networks and the SLM

The term social networking is a relatively new term that seems to have been coined with the increased popularity of Facebook, Myspace and several other websites.  Up until the current school year, my own employer, DeKalb County Schools did not allow access to the websites that are categorized as social media sites.  DeKalb County realized that the social media frenzy seemed almost impossible to avoid so they opened their own Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I thought this was interesting because anytime before, they blocked access to both of these accounts and it seemed as though society was dictating how the school board would carry on business.  According to the article, Social Networking and Your Library OPAC, by Barbara Fiehn, more businesses are open to the idea of using social media networks and have blocked access to them in the past, like my own school system.  For example, Destiny Follet has a component which allows users to review books and provide other feedback on the books.  They can even recommend books to other Destiny users to read.  This is the type of component that would be helpful in a SLM setting.  It has a social aspect without allowing the students to have full access to the internet.
I personally think that social networking sites could be very beneficial in a SLM setting.  For example, my son, a fifth grader was allowed to use the Edmodo.com site to give feedback about stories that he read in his class and he even has some assignments that require him to turn  in the assignments via Edmodo for a grade.  I like the ease of him being allowed to turn in assignments this way because he can do it from home and he can discuss it with the other students.  It provides a safe and secure place for him to converse with others about school related topics of interest. 

I appreciated the article entitled, Secure Social Networking.  It went into detail as to how students should stay safe while they are online.  Educators must realize that as we allow our students to have more access to social networking sites, we have to put safety parameters in place to help protect our children.  I have seen more books in the media center that provide tips on staying safe while on the internet, but it may be more appropriate to provide training and classes on this type of subject as well.   When students are in a school setting and they are allowed to visit Facebook, they are being exposed to anybody and everybody who is hiding behind a username.  My school does allow access to social networking sites, as opposed to filtering them out and they use them to provide information to parents, for example, spelling bee information, report card dates and information like that.   I think a more appropriate use of the social media networks is for students to provide feedback on coursework, blogging about books they have read and providing an alternative for how they can submit homework.  I think with the rapidly changing pace of the face of the social networking sites, we will see more schools using them in a positive manner and not filtering them out but finding ways to embrace the use of the tools that the social networking sites offer.