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Article Title:
"Face"-ing the Future: Using Social Networks for Learning?

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The lure of Facebook has captured not only over 7 million users on its social network, but its intrigue has also captivated movie goers at the box office since the story of its success has played out into $72,907,728 in revenue at the box office (The Social Network, 2010). Though its initial launch in 2004 was designed to support distinct college networks first open just to students with a Harvard.edu email address, by 2005, the social network grew to include high school students, professional inside corporate networks, and “eventually everyone” (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). The ever increasing popularity of this SNS has led to research and evidence that Facebook has its own unique features that enhance not only its user base but its functionality.

These appealing features can also make this SNS a more attractive means to invite not just social but educational interaction. According to Ajjan& Hartsborne,2008; Mason, 2006; Selwyn 2007 ( as cited in Sacin & Yasmin, 2009) “social network tools support educational activities by making interaction, collaboration, active participation, information and resource sharing, and critical thinking possible.” Through the Internet, learners can engage in a learning community that encourages and engages students. Such collaborative learning is important said Hiltz, 1998 (as cited in Towner & VanHorn, 2007), when the student and peer relationships become the focus of learning. As to what separates Facebook from other social networks are the elements that should help to direct the development and implementation of any SNS intended for learning purposes.

Defining these attributes provides a basis to build other education social networks with the intent of attracting willing participants. Critical to Facebook’s success is its target audience. According to Facebook.com (as cited in Sacin & Yasmin, 2009), “Facebook is defined as a ‘social utility that helps people share information and communicate more efficiently with their friends, family, and co-workers.’” These particular users are a select group that typically represent existing offline relationships, as opposed to earlier social networks that promoted meeting new people through on-line communication. More important seems to be the familiarity of the users with one another. While these users might still meet off-line, research also shows that an SNS can result in stronger relationships. According to Tidwell and Walther (as cited in, Orr, E., Arseneault, Simmerien, & Orr.R., 2009) “online interactions generated more self-disclosures and fostered deeper personal questions than did face-to-face conversations.”

In particular Facebook users have the tools available to make these connections more meaningful and more supportive when learning new information. A study conducted at a Midwestern university in 2006 concluded that a large number of students use Facebook to contact fellow classmates with questions regarding assignments or exams; and some also use the network to collaborate with others on assignments and online projects (Towner &VanHorn, 2007). Resources and materials for such activities can be readily shared by those who have the technical skill to use the particular features in Facebook for photo and file uploading, profile editing, and menu use. Also beneficial is the opportunity for individuals to create their own groups and join existing ones that share interests and topics (Sacide & Yasemin, 2009).

In a survey of Facebook users conducted by Sacide and Yasmin, 2009, 606 users responded to show that Facebook is used not only for collaboration and resource sharing, but the network also provides a viable form of communication. “Educational usage of Facebook for communication consists of activities such as enabling communication among students and their instructors, facilitating class discussions, following announcements about classes and courses, delivery of homework and assignments by teachers, informing about resources and links to related courses (Sacide & Yasmin, 2009). While many of the same communication tools exist within formal learning management systems, such as Moodle, Facebook allows for individual users to actually develop the learning tools rather than being directed by a single course manager. This personalization provides the learner with the freedom to direct their own learning and collaborate in conjunction with or without the expectations of others.

Considering the magnitude of Facebook’s attraction built upon user-friendly components, the question is how and if more formal learning environments can structure their own social networks to develop and maintain the same success within its community. After all, connecting and communicating with peers through Facebook and other social networks has quickly become a significant and interactive feature of modern student //and// adult life. Facebook is conceivably different from the “outdated” MySpace in several ways. Like MySpace, there's a wall function that allows users to comment on people's pages, but with Facebook page owners can also comment back on their own wall, or have 'wall-to-wall' conversations, which is rather valuable and easy to use. However, these same social networking sites have been the subject of several recent debates within the educational community. One member of the community, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, a school located in central Pennsylvania, went so far as to conduct a social experiment by banning Facebook, Moodle, and other types of social media from their faculty and students for an entire week. Some students embraced the idea, while others were outraged. According to the university’s provost, Eric Darr, the experiment was, “proof that this is a set of technologies that has clearly impacted our lives and the way we live.” (Katersky, 2010)

 Though a growing number of educators seem to welcome the impending use of social networking to engage students with their work, others are afraid that such applications interfere with the traditional educational conditions. A study conducted by sociologist, Neil Selwyn at a UK University examined the use of Facebook for educational purposes. Based on the “wall” activity of 909 undergraduate students over a sixth-month period, Selwyn found that Facebook was used more for socializing and talking to friends about their work, than for actually doing their work. Selwyn concluded //, “// that rather than necessarily enhancing or eroding students' 'front-stage' engagement with their formal studies, //Facebook//  use must be seen as being situated within the 'identity politics' of being a student” (Selwyn, 2009) //.// Research, however, has yet to determine whether online social networking takes away from academic learning or improves it. A certainty is that “creating and maintaining profiles, links to friends, groups and events demands an investment of students’ time and energy, reducing the amount of these resources that are available for traditional academic engagement” (Eberhardt, 2007).

The appeal of Facebook, for students and adults alike, has been growing steadily since 2004. The social interactivity and collaboration aspects of the site seem to be a desirable form of learning, and most would assume Facebook would be a likely candidate for the next generation of social learning. After all, it worked for students who enjoyed playing computer games, which were later brought into the education world for hands-on and simulation learning. However, Selwyn’s study proved that most students used Facebook to reflect on the face-to-face time they had with professors, the negative experiences they had in class, etc. Most postings were seen as a way to discuss the practical logistics of attending seminars, classes, exams, etc. rather than direct learning. The exchange of academic information was in the minority. Even though Facebook (or other similar applications) may not make it as the next best learning tool, it is important to study them. In the future, we can expect to see a proliferation of platforms aimed at Facebook-type applications in schools and organizations, with the probability of positively affecting students’ and employees’ learning outcomes. For now, though, most people would have to agree that their “social” lives should be separated from their academic or professional lives when it comes to sharing information online.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The realities of our “Facebook” age, where the 400 millionth profile was created on February 6, 2010 (Dybwad, 2010) is that old institutional hierarchy cannot keep people from forming connections, groups, and networks to share information. The free and ubiquitous nature of social networks has allowed for this informal connection of people. This new reality, for the first time in human history, has created an instantaneous, global network of ordinary people connected to one another in real time. An unprecedented explosion of learning, as ideas can be exchanged and built upon like never before, is a natural consequence of this new reality. Business consultant, Clay Shirky, writes in his 2008 book <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Here Comes Everybody,// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">that “group action gives human society its particular character, and anything that changes the way groups get things done will affect society as a whole. This change will not be limited to any particular set of institutions or functions. For any given organization, the important questions are ‘When will the change happen?’ and ‘What will change?’ The only two answers we can rule out are never, and nothing” (Shirky, 23). The change that Shirky writes about is the internet, in particular social and collaborative spaces like social network services.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Twitter phenomena clearly illustrates the potential that social networks have in combining with human action to make positive change. Science and technology writer Steven Johnson explained how Twitter was changed by its users, and consequently, changed how people view the world in his 2010 book <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Where Good Ideas Come From// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. He writes, “When it first emerged, Twitter was widely derided as a frivolous distraction that was mostly good for telling your friends what you had for breakfast. Now it is being used to organize and share news about the Iranian political protests, to route around government censorship, to provide customer support for large corporations, to share interesting news items, and a thousand other applications that did not occur to the founders when they dreamed up the service in 2006” (Johnson, 192).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Organizations that ignore Facebook, Twitter, and other online social networks risk failure. The millennial generation, which will make up an estimated 47% of the workforce by 2014 (Bingham, 2009), has been raised online and use online social networks as naturally as previous generations used the “online” telephone call as the primary way to communicate over long distances. Educational institutions and corporations need to find a way to adopt collaborative and networking tools not solely because the new generation demands it, but because they are willing to use the tools to create new and better things that were impossible just a few years ago. In addition, the explosion of mobile technologies have created an even more fluid and ubiquitous environment that can foster learning and innovation through the ability to more easily tap into information and human networks at any place, any time. Human action coupled with free and easy access to social technology has changed the world. Organizations that recognize this fact as an opportunity will be able to foster an environment looking to the future, instead of one saddled to the past.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Social networking has found its way into our personal lives and in the business and education fields as well. The old World Wide Web has been replaced and continues to evolve into an information sharing tool to develop relationships and store our files and information (Rubel, 2010). Into the future will come new ways to utilize social networking tools and those with vision have already decided on a plan. An article in the //Patriot News// dated September 12, 2010, projected that politicians will be focusing on getting their message out this November by using Facebook and Twitter. The key says Jack Broom of the //Seattle Times// is that the young voters were extremely important in the past presidential election and many of these voters are college-aged Americans that move often and have fewer connections to established institutions. They use “snail mail” less, typically don’t own property, and often do not have listed telephone numbers being covered under a family plan. So they are only approachable through their Internet identity. But once engaged, these youth bring a unprecedented passion to the election progress. The easiest way to reach them is through social networking tools. Broom, Jack (2010).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Small businesses, too, are learning that they can promote and advertise their business through Facebook with a fan page without the high cost of web advertising. Want to promote an upcoming event or sale? Simply post it on a fan page and get a few friends or acquaintances to respond and the message branches to reach hundreds and perhaps thousands of potential customers. These tools also allow customers or friends to register for the event letting everyone else know who will be attending.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">For Facebook the future is now. Perhaps there will be a drop- off in interest in the coming years, but for now it remains a powerhouse in the computing world. According to Complete.com, Facebook became the top source of traffic for many major sites like Yahoo, and MSN, surpassing Google. And Hitwise reports that Facebook is now the fourth leading traffic driver to news sites. Steve Rubel predicts that if the 2000’s was the decade of Google, then 2010s will belong to Facebook (Rubel, 2010). The Nielsen report in January, 2010, stated that U.S. consumers spent as much as seven hours a month on Facebook. This is more than three and a half times the time spent on Yahoo, which ranked second in attention (Rubel, 2010).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Facebook will lead the way into the Web 3.0 world of tomorrow. As Facebook aggressively approaches 500,000,000 active users, it quietly collects all those likes and dislikes. As this information is gathered, Facebook boosts the ability to link to the information wanted without asking. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet//,// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">open source activist, Chris Mesinna, reminds users that all those partners of Facebook that offers a chance to play in the sandbox and provide the right information to enrich the browsing experience are using proprietary property owned by Facebook. This network giant has the right to change the rules as it sees fit to enhance the profits of the company. Justin Smith of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Inside Facebook// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> explains the company is trying to turn the partners reward programs into credits on Facebook which can then be used to purchase merchandise within the Facebook ecosystem; in essence creating an alternative currency that can be used to conduct trade (Salam,2010). Despite facebook’s profit making, the public continues to make Facebook the number one social networking platform today. The obsession of Facebook is anything but waning; there are presently 150,000,000 people accessing Facebook from their mobile devices.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The alarming rate of Facebook’s success is a signal that social networking is part of the new reality. By presenting social networking on a user focused platform, Facebook has created a technology that is evolutionary. As the world progresses so does the content on this network. New applications and groups are continuously changed and added to meet the interests of users. Communication has taken on a whole new meaning. Outside of work and school, social interaction and collaboration were often sporadic and reserved for those who have already met face-to-face. Facebook has encouraged people to go beyond the world that is right in front of them. Today, on a daily basis, people across the globe interact and collaborate together without ever meeting each other in person.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Integrating social networking into a formal learning environment remains controversial. Some fear that this new innovation will be an interference and distraction. Others believe that integrating social networking into education embraces the collaboration needed to prepare children for the future. No matter what side is appealing, it is apparent that new ideas are being exchanged and developed like never before. As technology becomes increasingly prominent, people are using collaborative tools and social networking to create things that were once unimaginable. It’s up to the schools to decide if they are willing to embrace something that was once impossible.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sources **

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