Teachers should resist the urge to dismiss social media. This would be tantamount to a teacher in the 1950s dismissing the television. The technology is here and children are going to use it if they have access to it, period. Unlike television, however, the social media have become woven into the fabric of communications all over the world. Knowing this, the teacher should be advised that without the skills in multiple communications formats, students will be severely hamstrung in today's economy.
Simply picking up the land-line or cell phone is not enough to be completely connected. The world is webbed with social networks, Wikis and more. These and other tools are a clear competitive advantage which will assist these future productive citizens in being more efficient and productive than ever before. If teachers do not embrace this in the name of the student, they are failing in their prescribed mission as educators.
The Twitter craze might be used in its short and to-the-point format. It could be used to update information about classroom activities, or perhaps incorporated into a lesson. Imagine having students learn about the early 1900s American industrial revolution and, as a project, have the students formulate a Twitter conversation between two or three captains of industry during the era. Samuel Morse could perhaps Tweet Isaac Singer about his telegraph invention and Singer back to him about his innovative sewing machine. How much fun would that be for the class!
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