At last – a list of Social Networking sites has made it onto Wikipedia! There are sixty examples listed at the moment – I’m sure more will be added to by the Wikipedia community. Each of the sites is listed with its focus, user count and registration details (ie open or invite only etc.) What is staggering are the numbers of users quoted for some of these environments – MySpace 86M, Friendster</a< 29M and Xanga 40M for example! Most of the user figures are backed up with a reference that you can check (no doubt these figures will date very quickly)
4 replies on “List of Social Networking Sites”
Hi Derek.
Interesting to see that Wikipedia is now listing examples and I know there are so many more! What’s your opinion of teachers using social networking sites to connect kiwi kids (8-11 years), publish work, connect with other educators etc.? Do you have any that you would recommend exploring?
I am neurotic about internet safety and yet and always on the look out for opportunities for students to connect locally and globally.
Cheers
e-fellow Gill
Hi Gill
your concerns about safety etc are well founded – while I’m a great advocate of the use of this sort of software within the Web2.0 world, I do have cautions about how best to integrate understandings and knowledge about its use within our school system – especially with younger children. My key interest lies really in the fact that this software is being used to such a large extent by so many of the students who come into our schools – and so my drawing attention to it is not primarily to suggest we should be using it within our school frameworks, but rather be aware of what is being used and how, and to seek ways to understand how we can make what we do in classrooms of relevance to students who are growing up using these sorts of environments.
That said, if you are looking for ways of using this sort of software with your students then you might consider some of the “safe” options that I blogged about a few days ago (see June 13)
Thanks for that, Derek. I have just been exploring Whyville and have just passed my “Chat Licence”. It certainly looks worth exploring further and sharing with colleagues.
interesting subject – we block access nationwide but there are a number of schools over riding VEN and opening up access …probably like txting = we havent found a safe on button yet but its there big time