Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
introDuction
his profile page — his entry point to this online
international community — he notices that several
things have changed among his “friends” in just
the few hours since he last communicated with
them. Looking at his list of “updates” he notices
that Julia has joined the network. Alex has written
in his blog about the challenges of college life.
Jade has finished her midterm and thinks she did
okay. Whitney has become a supporter of the
Democratic president-elect, Barak Obama, and
Jose has added four new photos of his new dorm
room. Emilio accepts Julia as a friend so she can
see his complete online profile. He comments,
“Congratulations!” on Jade's update. He visits
Alex's page to leave a comment about his blog
entry on college life. He visits Whitney's profile to
see what other people have said about her support
for the U.S. president. He visits his own home page
to read comments friends have left him about a
video he created for a school project about sports
casting, his career interest. Earlier, he had posted
an unfinished essay for sociology in his blog so
that friends could give feedback on what he had
written. Using the instant messaging feature within
the MySpace network, Emilio messages another
classmate who appears to be online and asks for
advice on a social work assignment. He stays
logged into the MySpace system while he works
on his homework, waiting for friends to respond
to his requests and comments. Soon messages
began to appear. One friend instant messages
some feedback on the sociology essay. Another
friend compliments him on the finished video,
and another gives him advice on the psychology
assignment. At nine o'clock, Emilio changes his
MySpace mood setting to “tired” and signs out
of the network. His work is finished. He looks
forward to following up with his friends on the
night's events when he meets them tomorrow,
online or off.
This opening vignette describes some of the many
ways young people participate in online social
network sites (SNSs). Emilio (a psuedonym) was
a shy, soft-spoken eighteen year old who had a
few close friends at university. Within MySpace
(www.myspace.com), however, Emilio had a large
network of friends, acquaintances, and contacts
from within and outside his local community. His
MySpace profile contained videos and photos he
had created and posted to share. Often portrayed
in the media as dangerous or distracting (Hass,
2006; Rowan, 2007), many young people are
actually making important, positive connections
through their use of online social network sites.
They find emotional support, get help with school
work, relax, socialize and flourish in using this
outlet for their creativity.
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the
social and educational benefits of online social
network sites and the implications of social net-
work site affordances for human services educa-
tion and practice. The unique features of today's
social network sites will be discussed in relation
to other forms of virtual communities. The chapter
will present theoretical foundations, application of
social network site features to education and ways
in which the competencies users demonstrate in
social network sites can have educational benefits
and enhance learners' experience. Moreover, a
case study of one students' use of an online so-
cial network will be provided for tertiary social
work students who seek to consider the potential
application of this information communication
technology for human services education and
practice. This case study may also be useful for
researchers in the field of information communica-
tion technology and human computer interaction
in various disciplines who seek to describe and
illuminate online social networking practices.
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