Ning, Ning... Hello? It's for you!

Ahhhh… finally. When I first started exploring the Web 2.0 tools and the requirements for EDES 501, I saw that social networking sites were one of our last explorations and I was disappointed. I was familiar with social networking. For once, I wouldn’t be a complete novice and might actually know something about our topic! Well, it is maybe a good thing that social networking wasn’t sooner in the course because I was exposed to “new” ideas and, if it is possible, I am getting comfortable with going beyond my comfort zone!

What is Social Networking?

Social networks are a component of the read/write web that link people to each other through relationships based on common friends, family, interests, education, and/or employment. Most social networking sites have the ability to share photos and videos, post messages (both in a public and private manner), instant message contacts, and join groups.

Wikipedia lists over 100 social networking sites and their approximate number of registered users. Compete.com lists Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter as the most popular sites (by number of monthly visits). Many of the media sharing sites have an interconnectedness that defines them as social network sites as well, including Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

Social networking is growing in popularity and is big business. Jack Loechner of the Centre for Media Research stated, “According to Nielsen, total minutes spent on social networking sites in the U.S has increased 83% year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700% year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month... and worth $10 billion last week according to analysts.”

My Exploration of Facebook, Webkinz, and a couple Nings!

Facebook

Ahhh…my comfort zone! I joined Facebook in the spring of 2007. I was home on maternity leave with our first child. I remember the day I joined! I spent my son’s entire afternoon nap poking around, finding people, uploading pictures, checking out other people’s information and pictures and trying to amass as many “friends” as I could! I couldn’t believe how much time I had spent on Facebook when my son woke up! When my husband came home from work that day, I was almost embarrassed to tell him how I’d spent my day!

Facebook was initially created just for college students, but has expanded to currently be the largest Internet social network. It is free and anyone can join. You affiliate yourself with a variety of networks and groups and link together with “friends” upon mutual consent. There are a wide variety of applications that can be added to your profile page and you can read about your friends current events in your news feed. A standard Facebook account (without extra applications) has photo sharing, video sharing, instant messaging, and public and private message systems.

I, personally, do not have any additional applications on my profile. I have never found an application that I was interested in adding. I prefer to check people’s “status lines”, look at pictures, and quickly communicate with my “friends”. I admit I am a bit of a Facebook junkie though. I quickly check in with Facebook numerous times throughout the day! At home on a maternity leave, it is often my social contact outside my home!

As I was already familiar with Facebook and still wasn’t interested in exploring various add-ons, I knew that I had to venture past this social network!

Ning Networks

The first time I heard of “a ning”, I felt absolutely clueless. I had NO idea what that was and was sure I had never even heard that as a word beyond something I would read in a Dr. Seuss book! (Sounds Dr. Suess-like, doesn’t it?)

It was worth my time! There is something for everyone at Ning. According to the Ning website itself, “Ning lets you create and join new social interests and passions.” Wikipedia explains that “The unique feature of Ning is that anyone can create their own social network for a particular topic or need, catering to specific membership bases.”

Since I was trying to learn about Web 2.0 tools, I searched for a related Ning network and was drawn to “Classroom 2.0”. I submitted a brief bio and waited for membership approval. Phew… accepted. Wow! I could spend hours reading fascinating discussion threads, following links, and establishing relationships with fellow Classroom 2.0ers.

A few days later, I was wondering if Ning was all academic and decided to search for scrapbooking, an interest of mine. I was largely interested in sharing ideas, layouts, and techniques so I was drawn to “Paper Craft Planet” because of the membership numbers. (There are over 14 000 members.) Again, I submitted a request to join and was accepted within a few hours.

Just for fun, I tried a few obscure searches to see if I could find a topic without a Ning related to it! I couldn’t! I tried things like candle and basket, but, surprisingly, there were lots! I even tried again with “aardvark” and found four Nings! (I don’t think they had anything to do with the actual animal, but hardly my point!)

I feel that the possibilities are endless within the Ning network and, if by chance, you find an area of interest lacking, you simply create one! Very powerful!

Webkinz

As a primary teacher, I have been hearing about Webkinz for a few years and had a limited understanding of them. However, I understood they had a social networking component to them so I thought I’d expand my horizons and check it out!

Essentially, Webkinz are real stuffed animals that are purchased and contain a secret code that allows players to access the virtual Webkinz World for one year. Players must keep their virtual animals (a representation of the “real” one) happy, entertained, and fed. To achieve this, they need to earn virtual money by completing jobs, taking quizzes, and/or playing games to be able to make the necessary virtual purchases. You can also create a friend network that enables you to invite your friend over for a virtual visit and have on-line chats. (Chats are limited to selecting from a list of prewritten statements.) Players can also create stories, add widgets (more like decorations), and personalize their home pages.

My daughter received a Webkinz as a gift and being that she was only a few months old, I didn’t think she’d mind if I used the special code provided with the stuffed animal and played around!

Oh boy! I think I should have had an eight-year old give me a tutorial! I think I am lacking a child’s intuition that would make this easier! There is a lot loaded into this… game? (I am not too sure what to call it, other than good marketing!) I stumbled around and tried to establish my character, named “Frogie” by my three year-old son, and keep him happy and fed. I thought that being an adult I’d be able to quickly whip through the quizzes to earn KinzCash (the virtual money system), but I found that you can only speed things up a little by quickly knowing the right answers!

The social networking component of Webkinz does not appear to be as elaborate as other popular networking sites (for older people) like MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster. I was able to search for players by their interests or favorites, but did not see a way to search for a specific person. You can also select “Meet Someone New” and be shown a (seemingly) random player. I was able to request a friendship that I assume sent the player some kind of message when they are on-line. (I have yet to receive such a request.) It seems that Webkinz changes user names into a three letter abbreviation, because that is all I could see when visiting their pages, but I couldn’t determine what mine was! Would a child need to send out a lot of requests with the hope that someone accepts before they had a network of (random) friends? Or, am I missing something?

I was beginning to feel like I was investing too much time in Webkinz, but soldiered on regardless! I did a Google search to try to find answers. Sure enough, a Webkinz wiki! Of course! Still on the quest for friends, I was able to determine I could visit the “Clubhouse” and request friends from people in the rooms. Forgetting I am really looking for children, I selected the Reading Rooms, but couldn’t find anyone. I needed to rethink this… the Party Rooms, of course! Paydirt! I found a room with nine other Webkinz and made friends with the only two that were accepting friend invites. Ahhh… now I had friends. I spent a surprising amount of time playing around “chatting” with the various Webkinz in “Party Room 3”, saying things like “Hello”, “Follow me”, and “I like your outfit”. However, this was all wearing thin with me and I left to feed my pet!

I had managed to begin to set up Frogie’s room, feed him, and play with him. I had taken a few quizzes to earn money to buy these items. I had created a story with the writing tool that is similar to the “MadLibs” stories of my generation! I had also randomly selected three people to send a friend request to. (I’ve yet to hear back from any of them!) However, I did make two friends in the Party Room. … As the minutes turned into hours, I decided to get out of Webkinz World!

Webkinz World is rather elaborate and I wonder if the children who play here really know all of the “ins and outs” of the World, and, if they do, how much time have they spent on the site? I am left thinking that Webkinz is a clever marketing scheme and a child’s introduction to social networking, but I think I’ll leave the World alone for a while!

Implications of Social Networking for Teaching & Library Use

I must admit that it is a bit of a struggle for me to wrap my head around being “in favour” of most social networking sites in schools. I don’t know if this is a result of being “behind the times”, or because of the purely social, largely frivolous manner in which I use Facebook, or if I have been too indoctrinated by “bad publicity”, but I remain slightly unconvinced. My venture into Webkinz didn’t help make me feel that social networking sites are academic either, but I did see more potential in (some of) the Ning networks.

My biases aside, I can explain some of the buzz around social networking and tell you what many educators (or people who comment on education) are saying about their role in education.

Current Popularity – Talk the talk, walk the walk! If you want people to use the library, you need to provide them with access to what THEY are interested in.

Teach skills – As Stephen Abram explains, “Those schools that block social sites rather than taking advantage of a teachable moment are missing something. The kids aren’t, they’ll just take it underground. I have seen too many schools using over the top scare tactics such as bringing in police speakers telling horror stories. Smart schools will offer more balanced viewpoints and information. Our society expects it.” Students need guidance and knowledge about on-line etiquette, how to be Internet-wise (like street-wise), as well as, basic, general technology skills like typing and mouse-use.

However, there are two ways to consider the role of social networking in education. One being permitting students (and teachers) to utilize their own social networking accounts in an educational setting, but another is to create and maintain an account for the institution. A different spin entirely…

Some of the benefits of having the school or library maintain an account within popular social networking sites are:

Keeping up with the times – Future/young generations have different expectations of education and libraries. They have come to expect a level of availability and accessibility that can be achieved through participation in social networking sites.

Visibility and Promotion – Another medium for showing what the institution has to offer. If patrons are looking on social networking sites, then be on those social networking sites! An institution could include a virtual tour (video), pictures of special displays or new books, and information of upcoming events.

Feedback – Social networking profiles provide patrons (either loyal or would-be) with an additional venue to provide feedback to the institution.

Examples… do they exist?

I searched Facebook for “library” and received many results, but I quickly found that most of them had their privacy settings so that I couldn’t view the whole account unless I became their “friend”. I had tried approximately twenty when I finally found one with the account publically viewable. The Morton College-Library in Illinois has some information on its profile page, but, in my opinion, it could be more extensive. However, kudos to them for making it available for Facebook users to see! Morton gave me hope there were more… click, click, click, denied, denied, denied… oh, the Waterville Public Library is viewable and quite extensive (could use more pictures though.) hummmm… Maybe library use of Facebook isn’t very “mainstream”…yet?

The Downside

I feel that I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the dark side of social networking as well.

Privacy Issues – Facebook, in particular, has been in the headlines lately for not meeting Canada’s privacy laws. Canada’s federal privacy commissioner has stated that Facebook’s policy of keeping user information indefinitely breaches our privacy law and mid-July 2009, Facebook was given one month to alter its policies. (LuAnn LaSalle, Winnipeg Free Press, July 18, 2009 p. B6)

Social networking sites have privacy settings that users should also be mindful of and make sure they are set to the user’s level of comfort. It is also important to periodically check these settings, for new options can be “quietly” added.

Time! – In my opinion, having clear personal guidelines with regard to social networking is a must! Because of the elaborate nature of the popular social networking sites, significant time can be spent in them. Whether it is creating your avatar for Second Life, answering quizzes on Facebook or buying virtual clothing for your Webkinz, you need to ask yourself if this is how you want to be spending your time, or is something else suffering because of this on-line time.

Blocked Sites – In many schools, social networking sites are blocked making the debate somewhat moot. Until the “powers that be” change their minds, social networking sites will remain unavailable in these settings. I work in a school division with a very conservative mindset and I do not see the School Board opening access to many social media sites in the near future. It would require a shift in thinking by the general public first.

What’s Next?

I was recently reading June’s edition of Runner’s World (I’m a little behind in reading for pleasure!) and I found a brief reference to Strands, a social networking site geared toward athletes! Ohhhh, fun! I have only just checked out their homepage, but am intrigued and would like to explore more. Of course, this is purely for my own personal interest, but relevant none-the-less. I watched their short introduction video and noticed their blatant incorporation of popular media!

I have no doubt that I will continue with Facebook for my own personal use for the foreseeable future. I really do enjoy it. While not academic, it is my mini-escape and a chance to be slightly voyeuristic!

Sorry, but I think I’ll be staying away from Webkinz. Honestly, I hope to avoid this all together, but may reconsider if one of my darling children asks me with longing one day!

Ning, ning, I’ll get it – I see the most potential within the Ning network. I like the idea of setting up a private Ning network for your class/classes. I think this would be more applicable for older students, but something I can keep in mind should I become the teacher librarian at a Middle or High School. However, I would also be keen on joining or starting a Ning for connecting with fellow teachers. I was slightly disappointed by the lack of anything (significant) local for educators on the Ning network. I am assuming that creating a Ning is as easy as promised, but that will have to wait until another day!

I’ve got to go now… Time to go check out my friends’ status lines on Facebook!...