Social Networking Sites

I came across a very interesting article by Stephanie Vie about social networking sites and their implications on the writing classroom. The article discusses the concept of the "Digital Divide" and how the technological gap between teachers and students is widening. While we as teachers are not and should not be required to participate in such social networking sites as www.Facebook.com and www.MySpace.com, we need to understand how they work, and how students are using these almost exclusively at times to write and communicate outside the classroom, at times changing the concept of "literacy" in the classroom. The article also mentions several larger social issues that can be discussed through using these social networking sites.

The article brings up some very interesting points. Students may complain about writing in the classroom, but they are writing constantly through text messaging, online instant messaging, through their own personal blogs, and on social networking sites. Teachers shouldn't ignore this- they should understand and embrace it!