What is it, in a nutshell?
Social Networking Technologies (SNTs) comprise a large number of web-based applications that share a common feature: they foster the development of online communities by facilitating communication, collaboration, interaction, or the sharing of information. At present, the best known SNT is perhaps Facebook, which has millions of users worldwide, but there are dozens of other SNTs as well. This page will provide an overview of SNTs, with other pages on this side focusing on specific SNTs.
Background
Social Networking Technologies existed for about ten years before they became widely popular. One of the first SNTs was classmates.com, which appeared in 1995 and sought to reconnect individuals who had graduated from the same high school or university. In 1997, the SNT known as Six Degrees was launched, which aimed to connect people who had less direct connections: for example, John knows Omar and Omar knows Frida, so Six Degrees would potentially connect John and Frida. Six Degrees ceased to exist in 2001 because, according to its originators, it was simply ahead of its time. Other SNTs, similar to Six Degrees, followed such as Friendster in 2002, MySpace and LinkedIn in 2003, and Facebook in 2004. All of these SNTs are based upon the "web of contacts" model, with the focus being on the relationships among the users.
At that same time that the "web of contacts" SNTs were developing, another type of SNT was also evolving, known as Social Bookmarking. With social bookmarking, the focus is not on the relationships among participants, but on web content that the users have "tagged." Tagging refers to the practice of assigning key words or tags to a given web page; for example, someone might tag this very page with the key words "social networking," "learning technology," "teaching," and so on. The social bookmarking software creates a list of the user's tags, and allows him or her to search those tags from a web-based interface. Over the course of a few months, I might tag hundreds of web pages, but my social bookmarking application allows me to search through my tags at any point, so that I can find all of the web pages that I have tagged with, say, the key word "learning technology." Moreover, the social aspect of this kind of SNT derives from the fact that I can share my tags (and their corresponding web pages) with others, and they with me. I could, for example, search the tags of a colleague at another university to see what web pages she has tagged with the key words "learning technology." In a sense, it's like being able to browse through other people's online filing cabinets. Social bookmarking applications appeared as early as 1996 with itList, followed shortly after by Backflip, Blink, Clip2, ClickMarks, and HotLinks. A major turning point occurred in 2003, with the appearance of del.icio.us (which popularized the notion of tagging).
In 2004, other social bookmarking applications appeared including Furl and Simpy, along with social bookmarking applications that aimed to target academics, such as Citeulike and Connotea (the latter two are sometimes called social citation services). In 2006, Ma.gnol.ia, Blue Dot, and Diigo appeared. All of these SNTs are based upon a "trust" or "credence" model: that is, a user trusts, or gives credence, to another user's selection of tagged web pages. As a specialist in learning technologies, I will tend to trust the social bookmarks created by other experts in learning technologies -- that is, I will expect that what they have found worth of tagging, I will also find worthy. In 2004, a variation on social bookmarking began to appear in the form of "recommendation services" such as Digg and later, in 2006, Stumbleupon. These recommendation services essentially "tally up" the votes that users give to a given webpage or online video, and then disseminate links to the most popular items.
Identifying types of social networking technologies can be difficult, because the boundaries between the different types are blurry, and it's even difficult to say what is a social networking technology and what is just a technology. Email, for example, might be considered a social networking technology to the extent that listservs can help to foster communities. Instant Messenger services, too, like MSN or Windows Live Messenger or Google Talk, also have a community building effect. On the other hand, a virtual reality program such as Second Life has some affinities with social networking, yet the communities that are established may be communities of avatars or imagined personas which is rather different from how we usually think of communities.
Specific types or brands
Identifying types of social networking technologies can be difficult, because the boundaries between the different types are blurry, and it's even difficult to say what is a social networking technology and what is just a technology. Email, for example, might be considered a social networking technology to the extent that listservs can help to foster communities. Instant Messenger services, too, like MSN or Windows Live Messenger or Google Talk, also have a community building effect. On the other hand, a virtual reality
program such as Second Life has some affinities with social networking, yet the communities that are established may be communities of avatars or imagined personas which is rather different from how we usually think of communities.
If we limit ourselves to the SNTs that were described in the preceding "Background" section, then it would appear that there are two major kinds of Social Networking Technologies: those based on the "web of contacts" model (which facilitates relationships) and those based on the "credence" model (which faciliates the sharing of useful or popular web pages or media).
SNTs based one the "web of contacts" model tend to be either centred on personal relationships (i.e. "friends") or thematic interests (i.e. colleagues or peers). Facebook, for example, is primarily the former: the people that you interact with through Facebook may have no connection to each other apart from the fact that they all know you. Ning, on the other hand, allows people to create a social network that is devoted to a shared interest or theme: there are, for example, Ning sites devoted to cooking, coin collecting, and so on.
Functionality
SNTs can connect individuals for the purpose of maintaining existing relationships or fostering new relationships. Those relationships can be personal or professional, and a given network might be defined by a shared interest (e.g. Stamp collecting) or simply by mutual acquaintance (e.g. my Facebook account includes family members, friends, some former students, and so on -- in short, they may have nothing in common except that they all know me). SNTs are web-based applications, though some of them (such as Diigo) have extensions that are installed into one's browser.
Impact on teaching
A "web of contacts" SNT (such as Facebook) can provide a further way to communicate with members of a class, using an interface that might feel less formal than the online communication tools provided by a course management system (such as LEARN). SNTs also allow an instructor to import ready-made "widgets," which are mini-applications designed to accomplish specified tasks. Hundreds of SNT widgets have already been developed, and while most of them are trivial, some have serious academic application (such as a JSTOR widget that can be imported into Facebook). A credence-based SNT (such as the traditional Social Bookmarking applications) can allow an instructor to easily share a list of online resources with a class; the students, in turn, can easily share (and comment on) online resources that they have discovered. The result would be an online, evolving, and collaborative set of "recommended readings."
Impact on learning
SNTs are designed to foster collaboration, relationships, and/or knowledge sharing, and thus they have the potential to support peer-to-peer or mentor-to-peer learning.
Accessibility issues
Some "web of contacts" SNTs, such as Facebook, have a fairly "busy" interface, which may make it difficult for a visually-impaired learner to navigate the page using text-to-speech software such as JAWS.
Best practices
Determine in advance what learning outcome you intend to support with a particular SNT, and assess whether it can be supported by your existing course management system. If your course management system can do the job, then adding a third-party SNT may simply undermine the perceived utility of the course management system. - Before implementing an SNT, consider its implications with regard to privacy issues. There may be no implications (as with most social bookmarking applications), or there may be some minor ones (in which case you will need to educate your students about what they should or should not disclose), or there may be major ones (in which case you should probably not proceed).
- Consider how "social" you want to be with your students. Do you want to know what they did over the weekend (which you might very well discover, if you were to use an SNT such as Facebook in your course).
Hardware and software requirements
Any computer that can access the Internet can also access SNTs. Moreover, since SNTs are web-based applications, they don't need to be installed on your computer. Essentially, you simply sign up or register, and start using them. Some, such as Diigo, require you to install an extension in your browser, but this is easily and safely done.
Support and training
Contact your CTE Faculty Liaisons for one-on-one support regarding social networking technologies. The Senior Instructional Developer (Emerging Technologies) can also assist.
Financial cost
At present, most SNTs are free. Exceptions include Ning, which allows users to design their own social networking space for a small fee (and even this fee is waived if the users don't mind having advertisements appear on their social network).
Current usage at UW
Specific types of SNTs are widely used at UW, while others are probably not in much use. Most UW students, for example, have a Facebook account, and over 200 groups at UW employ Facebook to keep in touch with members (such as the UW Latin American Student Association, UW Architecture, UW Cheerleading, and so on). Anedotal evidence, too, suggests that many faculty are using social bookmarking applications, both for their own research and in their teaching practice.
Current usage elsewhere
SNTs have become so prevalent that they have changed the Internet from a tool used to archive and transmit information, to a tool that facilitates relationships and collaboration. SNTs are the new "Web 2.0."
More information
- Social Networking Technologies: A "Poke" for Campus Services
- A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies
- Wikipedia article
The bottom line:
Social Networking Technologies are free (for the most part) and easy to implement. Some SNTs are also easy to manage (such as social bookmarking applications), but others (such as Facebook and other "web of contact" applications") can be harder to keep on top of: for example, with Facebook, there is a danger that you might establish an account, invite people to become your "friends," and then forget to check your account regularly; on the other hand, you might find, after establishing an account, that you can't keep up with all of the comments and activity that your "friends" contribute to your space. As well, because SNTs are, by definition, social, they may raise issues pertaining to privacy and identity. Despite these caveats, SNTs do have the potential to allow you to foster or maintain professional relationships (with peers or students), and to share information or citations (again, with either peers or students). As always, though, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with an SNT before you make it an integral part of your research or teaching practice.
