Social Networking Platforms

I am a member of the following social networking platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn and Friends Reunited. I joined Ning to take part in Debra M’s online session.



Facebook: I was ‘allowed’ by my children to join only because I was moving to the other side of the planet and they were going travelling. They said it was a good way of keeping in touch. BUT, I was to be monitored and ‘had better not show them up’.

That was just over two years ago and I am regularly moderated. It allows me to see what they are up to, the good, the bad and the ugly.

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This works both ways as I use it to keep my mum in touch with what I’m up to. She has a computer but is not online so I load my pics up (14 albums to date) and someone else downloads them to a disc and takes them to her. My sister and nieces in Canada also have their own pages. It’s quite interesting, I found out that I am going to be a great aunt and that two of my family are moving house via Facebook. I have 49 friends, mainly family and ex colleagues in the UK.

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I am very particular about who I allow full access to my pages. I do not make full use of all the paraphernalia that goes with Facebook as you need to allow external access to make use of them. I have mentioned this in previous posts, I am not comfortable sharing personal details online. I recall Herve having some words of wisdom about the dangers of putting too much information online too. A speaker at Ascilite this week made an interesting comment about the ego platforms versus the object platforms. I think it was Grainne Conole, she was pushing the cloudworks platform. Worth a look as it is described as a place to share, find and discuss learning and teaching ideas and experiences.

Friends Reunited, I was a member of this network before they started charging for the privilege and it was the place to be, I met up with my school friends and found out about events etc. I dropped my membership when they started charging, I joined again this year as it is free again now but there was very little chatter. I expect that Facebook has taken its place.

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Ning: It’s early days yet, I do like the feel of it though as it is intuitive. I didn’t get to grips with GROU.PS or LinkedIn. I guess that I have been spoiled by Facebook. I have high expectations of a social network.