Monday, September 22, 2008

My Newest Obsession

On SLJ's Bowllan's Blog today, Amy Bowllan has a link to Dan Blank's blog about how Facebook changed his life (and she also has a profile on Bonnie Bracey Sutton, whom she connected with via Facebook) Go read....I'll wait....

Ok, Good, you're back. I have just recently gotten obsessed with Facebook (like I have time for another online activity), doing the things that Dan mentions, getting hooked up with old high school and college friends, keeping up with real life friends and now I have just started merging some of my professional life by "friending" colleagues, authors and other bloggers. I really like Dan's suggestion of having groups on Facebook to connect with others. As gas prices and well, everything, gets more expensive, going to conferences is going to be a thing of the past, at least for me, so maybe groups set up on Facebook could be an alternative to connecting to people I might have connected with at a conference or workshop. I also have a library shelf application ( I forget what it is called) where I can list the books I am reading, I can post a review and I can also see what my friends are reading too.

I think educators do have to be careful in how they use Facebook. While I have a few "friends" who are high school age kids (daughters of friends of mine) I try and keep it adults only, and I would never friend a student at my school. This might get harder as my kids get older and are on sites like this, but, it could be a good way to stay in tune with what is going on with my kids and their friends.

3 comments:

Mrs.Bowllan said...

Kathy,

thank you so much for the link. I agree with you about Facebook obsession. It truly opens up new doors these days. We recently had a faculty meeting discussing social networking and boundaries. Unfortunately there have been teachers who needed to be advised as to who to "friend." Caution is key.
Regards,
Amy Bowllan
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/bowllan

Mrs.Bowllan said...

Kathy,

thank you so much for the link. I agree with you about Facebook obsession. It truly opens up new doors these days. We recently had a faculty meeting discussing social networking and boundaries. Unfortunately there have been teachers who needed to be advised as to who to "friend." Caution is key.
Regards,
Amy Bowllan
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/bowllan

DanBlank said...

Kathy,
Thanks so much for the mention, I am glad you enjoyed the post. I think your ideas for leveraging online networks like Facebook in lieu of expensive trips is a really interesting idea.

So many people I have spoken with recently have told me that interactions on Facebook actually ENHANCE their face to face meetings because everyone knows so much more about each other. They are able to bypass those vague questions such as "so.... how are things," and get right to the fun details of their lives.

Anyhow, let me know if you need someone to brainstorm with! dan (at) danblank (dot) com
-Dan