I used to be a very non-Facebook person.  I thought it was a waste of time and pretty frivolous – lots of pictures of peoples’ food and pets and crazy party stunts.  Not that that doesn’t go on, but I have actually come to haunt my page fairly frequently – using it as a way to check in with friends (real ones, not the head count) who are having milestones or sharing news.  All in all, as a way of keeping low-demand contact I think it’s fun.

That being said, in the classroom I really don’t see how maintaining personal relationships would have an application in my instruction, and I guess that’s the overall view shared by the districts who ban its presence in any educational setting.  There are other, better ways to access news feeds and topical ruminations.

But that’s Facebook.  In the realm of other social medium I can (and am) seeing a clear potential for application.  Honestly, my students are buzzed when the come in and report “I got your text last night” (I’m connected with the majority of them through remind101.  I can be a nag if I want and they seem to appreciate my reaching out, in a wierd sort of way.  I have actually found that platform to be super duper for using to get brief communications out to a large number of people.

Using a Twitter feed (strictly for class – i don’t follow ANY of my students) has also been a very real way to maintain an school presence in students’ lives.  I think that if more districts could see the potential, proper applications of these avenues of communication then there would be less resistance.

However, and it’s a big one – it does demand that the teacher be uber-disciplined about their use and not slip into the “just want to be friends” mind – Unless you can ensure that the professionalism will be maintained across the board, it’s probably better to have an overall caution about social media and then let teachers prove their educational and communicative value.