WEEK 1: Introduction to Facebook

[Michele Martin]

Facebook was originally developed for college students to connect, so it has a more informal, social air than you find on LinkedIn. Now open to anyone, you will still find that Facebook is the preferred network for Millenials who see the encroachment of Boomers and, to a lesser extent, Gen X into the network as cause for some alarm.

Facebook combines the personal and the professional. Members can play games, join groups, share photos, and send each other virtual “gifts.” This is the network where you’re most likely to see both pictures of someone’s weekend activities, as well as a link to their online portfolio or professional website. Many companies are using Facebook as a recruitment tool for Gen Y, while college and university professors are exploring it's use for their classes.

To learn more about how Facebook works, check out this series of posts from HowStuffWorks. You may also want to check out these videos from VideoJug and see what other learning professionals say about Facebook.

Some additional articles from Work Literacy members:

**Are You Boring on Facebook? from Christine Freeman.


ACTIVITIES
Spectator--Read the HowStuffWorks series on Facebook and any comments people make on this Forum thread. Also feel free to check out the videos.

Joiner/Collector--Read the HowStuffWorks series and the Forum comments, and view the videos if you'd like. If you haven't done so already, join Facebook and start connecting. Find people with whom you want to connect or join a Facebook group. Try leaving a comment on someone else's wall. You may also want to comment or ask questions in this Forum.

Creator--If you have any resources on Facebook or want to go looking for some to share, add them to this Forum. Go on Facebook and add an appropriate "widget" or Facebook application to your profile page. (There are some here and here.) Start your own Facebook group and invite others to join. Consider creating a screencast or other job aide showing people how they can use Facebook.

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[David Miller]

I find Facebook to be "fun" more than practical. I am in a few networks (surprise! could they be related to Second Life?) and that has helped me obtain a few small custom projects. But I have not used it for educational purposes (apart from an announcement of some elearning opportunity elsewhere).

Anyone here use it actively in an educational manner?

[Rheinard Korf]

I second that... "fun" more than practical

David Miller said:

I find Facebook to be "fun" more than practical. I am in a few networks (surprise! could they be related to Second Life?) and that has helped me obtain a few small custom projects. But I have not used it for educational purposes (apart from an announcement of some elearning opportunity elsewhere).

Anyone here use it actively in an educational manner?

[Melissa Chiaramonti]

I don't agree with the prior posters. Been using Facebook a long time and find creating Groups to be useful and will have great potential in the professional/learning world. On the flip side of LinkedIn, where I have a profile but don't use it enough (it's there because others have profiles). Haven't used facebook too much in the professional realm but only due to my teams not even knowing what it is or attributing it to the "younger" set. Being Gen X myself, it has allowed me to keep in touch with colleagues and find old contacts from 10 years back. I envy all the "kids" who have been using this for years - they have a lovely centralized location for all their information and contacts.

Now, if they would remember not to add every silly app and post pictures of themselves drunk or otherwise......but that is another post.

[Jana Schiff]

I use Fb mainly for fun and keeping in touch with people. I also belong to a couple of ed tech groups and while I haven't really used them in my day-to-day job, I do find gems of info every once in a while. What I really like about it is that I have found a few people I fell out of touch with and always wondered how they were doing. If you are going to use Fb for work purposes, or even have work "friends", I think you have to be very careful what you post and what others post of you. I am sure glad those "Girls Gone Wild" videos of me haven't surfaced yet ;-) Just kidding.

[Rheinard Korf]

I guess it depends on how I define practical (without metadata the context is lost)...

I'm part of many Facebook groups, have managed to track down all but maybe 4 contacts who I really wanted to connect with again. I am also a fan of many "Pages" that sometimes gives me updates on independent artists that I like, TV shows that I like, comedians I admire, etc.

From that point of view, it has a practical application for me.. (that happens to be fun too)...

As per my reply in Social Networks for Learners, I just think that Facebook is a very personal thing. It is like mobile phones to teenage girls... They will send each other SMS's and MMS's, but they will not lend their phone to their friends.

By all means, EMPOWER those students who are already on Facebook. Give them the tools, show them how to use it effectively, create a widget that allows them to bring your content into their "world" - but I would be very wary to introduce new users, befriend students (unless it is to form professional networks), or use it as the portal to a course.

I feel the same way about Second Life... Personally I would not force a cohort of students to use it for a course... but if I see a need for a particular course and my target audience just happens to be people already comfortable "Living in Linden Land" (sounds like a good title for a song or a book), I would approach and recruit in SL.

"they have a lovely centralized location for all their information and contacts" - indeed. Allow them to keep that control and choose whether they want their teacher/trainer to be included in their space.


Melissa Chiaramonti said:

I don't agree with the prior posters. Been using Facebook a long time and find creating Groups to be useful and will have great potential in the professional/learning world. On the flip side of LinkedIn, where I have a profile but don't use it enough (it's there because others have profiles). Haven't used facebook too much in the professional realm but only due to my teams not even knowing what it is or attributing it to the "younger" set. Being Gen X myself, it has allowed me to keep in touch with colleagues and find old contacts from 10 years back. I envy all the "kids" who have been using this for years - they have a lovely centralized location for all their information and contacts.

Now, if they would remember not to add every silly app and post pictures of themselves drunk or otherwise......but that is another post.

[Harold Jarche]

I saw how Facebook was the right tool to mobilize our community this Spring. A group was created around the issue of the cancellation of early French immersion programme in the schools, and we soon had thousands of people quickly formed around this issue. Even the local radio station suggested that FB was best best way for dispersed communities to connect. Other websites and blogs later developed, but FB was first out.

[Collin Kromke]

I managed to put my Facebook badge in my blog, which felt like an accomplishment.

Like LinkedIn, I've really only been "playing" with Facebook. To me, between LinkedIn, Facebook, and Ning, I have found Facebook to be the least useful for my business purposes. Maybe I just need to explore some more, and I'll be paying attention to what others are posting here regarding their uses of Facebook for business, and in particular training since I'm a Curriculum Designer.

Here's my badge!

[Kate]

I started playing with Facebook about a year ago and it reminds me of one big casual chat room adorned with lots of visuals. I think MySpace is far more substantial for sharing interests, pursuits and ideas particularly for artists. Here's one of my favourite MySpace pages http://www.myspace.com/emilybraden

[paul lowe]

a great piece in today's guardian newspaper....


Make friends before you start
Facebook is being used on campus to ...

[Lodi]

I always thought that Facebook was for teenagers, but apparently I am wrong... I never had a Facebook profile and I would never had if I didn't went travelling. The only reasons I can think of and therefore use it is to "keep in touch" with anyone anywhere. It also serves as my photo album(s) of my travels. (I know no Picasse or Flickr which is recently discovered) And you can find someone you haven't spoken a real long time A part from that I can't think of any professional use as it only has as goal to amuse ourself. Thinking of all those applications you can add... Nevertheless it can work pretty addictive especially as you reach a certain number of "friends"!

[Virginia Yonkers]

Melissa, I second the hope that students will stop posting pictures of them drunk (and sometimes worse). I signed up for facebook as a student, which means that all of my undergraduate students' wall comes up with the drunk and inappropriate pictures. Because I am in their network, I haven't figured out how to get those pictures off my computer (I won't go on facebook when I am home, as a result, as I don't want my kids to see it).

I used facebook (or rather my class did) last year to organize an online conference that was part of their course on using new communication technologies in organizational life. I think it is very valuable to use what they know and get them to understand how it works. For example, one of the assignments was for them to find appropriate groups to market to through facebook. As the conference was on nanotechnology, they did a search, but came up with just 2 groups of more than 5 members. I did the same search and came up with 10. This was a real learning experience for them as they did not know that the search results depended on the groups they were members of and their friends list.

They found that facebook was very limited though, when it came to using it for the conference as they couldn't customize or lead the discussions and conference as effectively. They used a wiki to plan, and pageflake to disseminate information. Facebook was then linked into the pageflake, but little discussion happened on facebook.

I feel facebook is a much better tool to use as a "hallway" or informal meeting space outside of the course or training because it has been developed as a social tool and so members bring in their "public" self rather than their "academic" or "professional" self. Until facebook allows you to have different accounts for different purposes, I think facebook will be difficult to use as a learning tool. I know our university uses it successfully for orientations, mentoring programs, and residential life (student support services) because they want to promote the social relationships on campus.

[Virginia Yonkers]

I seem to be having trouble with Ning as I am not able to edit or reply to anyone else. Has anyone else had this problem? Oh well, I wanted to add the facebook link to the Nano Conference.