SOCIAL NETWORKS

After reading about all the various kinds of social networks I think they all have a different purpose of how I would use them.  Social networks fit into my workflow, professionally and personally it can fit into the lives of my students and or peers and here's how different social networks work for me:

PROFESSIONALLY:

Professionally I have chosen LinkedIn because it is a business-oriented social networking site. It was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking, so I don't have to worry about spammers, and I can connect with recruiters as well as past and present co-workers for job/school leads.  LinkedIn had more than 60 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, that’s a lot of people and a bunch of business opportunities.

PERSONALLY

Personally, my social network of choice is face book and MySpace; both serve the same purpose to reunite with past friends and distant family.  Face book and MySpace are a place for friends/family as well as myself to upload pictures, sometimes videos, we can leave comments, messages, picture comments, and much more.  Now with both sites I can even add applications for games, and how well do you know me questions for fun. I can show my personality a lot more on these sites by changing my background, writing about myself, and showing comments that people send me.  I like to change my "default" picture, or create avatars.  I can hide PERSONAL information, and if I feel up to it I can tell you how I am feeling or what I am doing.

STUDENTS/PEERS

A new site that I just learned about was Edmodo.  This is a great site for student and peers, when organizing work.  The best part about it is that it's another free site that it’s safe and open to interact with students and parents without having to share personal information.  I have learned from this site that curriculums, lessons files, web links, polls, due dates, and assignments can be uploaded and separated by groups.  This is exactly the site I need and falls into my goals for what I want to do when I start teaching.