Thing #12

I thought this "thing" was going to be quick and painless since I already do the whole MySpace thing but boy, did I have a lot to learn about social networking! Check out my MySpace profile. Facebook and Ning were brand new to me when I started this. I joined both and found friends on both but I honestly didn't enjoy both. Facebook is my least favorite social networking site. I'm not sure what makes me dislike it; maybe it's my love and addiction to MySpace. (I felt like a traitor when joining.) I liked Ning much better than Facebook and once I started playing around and exploring, I started liking it even more.

I know we have all talked about the importance of teachers and librarians knowing about MySpace and other social networking sites, but I'm going to repeat what is
always said... We need to be familiar with what the kids are doing in
order to create meaningful relationships. When you acknowledge the student's interests, you connect with them on a different level and many times it brings on much needed mutual respect.MySpace is such a popular thing these days (is it in the dictionary yet?),that everyone should at least be familiar with it.

Using a social network like Ning would be a great way to communicate with members of a book club. If possible, with the school filters, the librarian could create a group
using Ning and then the students could join the group. It would be an easy way to start a discussion and monitor the "conversations."