Social Networks
April Steenburgh, Jaimie Ehardt, and Rolando Valentin
History of Social Networks
• The first site recognizable as what we would call a social networking site launched in 1997. SixDegrees.com.o Profileso List your friendso Move through Friends lists
• While those functions existed across places like dating sites, SixDegress was the first to combine them into one location
History of Social Networks
• Alas, SixDegrees was short-lived, closing down in 2000. It may have been ahead of its time
• Business started working on business networks with Ryze.com in 2001 (leading to things like LinkedIn later)
• In 2003 Social Networks really started to take off, Myspace launching to compete with Friendster and Xanga.
History of Social Networks
• After Myspace, blogging took off with sites like Livejournal.
• All social network sites were working to fine tune the interface and appeal of how they managed profiles, friends lists, and the ease with which individuals could move through their friends, as well as privacy concerns, in order to attract users
References• Boyd, D. & Ellison, N. (2007). Social network sites: Definition,
history and scholarship. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full
Top 5 Most Popular Social Networking
Sites
#1-Facebook
#2-Twitter
#3- Linkedin
#4- Pinterest
#5- Google+
References• http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites• http://technozigzag.com/internet/top-5-most-popular-social-networking-sites/263
Digital Native • Prensky defines these as the
group of individuals, specifically students in kindergarten through college, that have grown up surrounded and saturated with new technologies
Where do the rest of us lie?
• Digital Immigrant: Prensky suggests that all other individuals outside of the digital native arena are considered digital immigrants; adapting to the digital environment but never fully immersed in it
Which one best represents you?
•Digital Native
•Digital Immigrant
What is a Digital Hermit?
• A term that I respectfully dubbed as those individuals who shy away from the usage of new technologies such as social media.
• Not only do they shy away from it digital hermits also have a hard time dealing with the idea of utilizing social media within the classroom.
References • Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital
Immigrants. Retrieved <November 13, 2013>, from http://www.nnstoy.org/download/technology/Digital%20Natives%20-%20Digital%20Immigrants.pdf
Applications of Social Networks
• Educationo Utilizing networks such as Facebook or Twitter for class discussion
platforms as opposed to traditional LMSo Using blogs as a space for students to share ideas and for peers to join
in discussion through comments as opposed to individuals handing in papers
• Business/Non-Profitso Getting news to customer/community in regards to events and
activitieso Get feedback from customers/community
Social Network Best Practices
• Develop a social media policy• Ensure that users can report abuse or
questionable content and develop a process for dealing with it.
• Be consistent, both in posting regularity and content
• Engage your audienceo Respond to commentso Strike up conversationo Make posts that are relevant and appealing to your audience
• Be aware of privacy and moderator settings that are available to you
References• Miller, S. (2013). Increasing student participation in online
group discussions via Facebook. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.library.esc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f457356a-d614-4894-b544-38ae0144b814%40sessionmgr115&vid=8&hid=4210
• Vaccaro, A. (2007). 9 best practices using social toos in education. Retrieved from http://goingon.com/blog/9-best-practices-using-social-tools-education-facebook-educators-guide