As with everything else I've been learning about, social networking has not been something I am really up on. I have always used my email to get in contact with people I need to send messages to. A couple years ago, my friends from church persuaded me to open a Facebook account so I could keep everyone posted on my recovery progress when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I truly never did figure out how to use it and didn't feel much like contacting people anyway. I'm also not one who has time to keep up with everyone's life by following my friends, family, and colleagues on Facebook. I can't hardly keep up with my email. Recently I finally closed my account.
As a professional tool, I can see where social networking has its advantages and applications. I can understand how it can provide teachers with the professional development that they really desire instead of having to sit through those rigid and formal events that the district sets up for them. Again, I respect how important it is to keep in contact with others but time is always an issue for me. I did like learning how it can be a great way to find outside resources schools can team up with for various reasons.
Some teachers use social network sites to chat with their students and families but at our school this application isn't a possibility. We are not allowed to "friend" our students. Personally, I like keeping my personal life private. We communicate with our students' families through newsletters and email. I am trying to figure out which tool (blogging or social networking) would be best for posting a "newsletter" on so I can eliminate the use of paper. We are finding that so many of our parents aren't reading the newsletters anyway. However, with a tool that you can add to and past posts can still be seen, it would be a great way to help parents keep up with things if they can't read the most recent newsletter.
To summarize, like everything else, there are definite applications for social networking in a persons personal and professional life. I am still deciding if it is the best tool for my purposes at this time in my life and career. The jury is still out.
A blog or a Wiki would be a great way to communicate with parents. If you want it to be more like a web page, I would use a Wiki. If you just want to post like you are doing here, a Blogger page would suffice. As you can see you can add a Google calendar etc so they could see important dates. You can also add RSS feeds to the side if you want to get adventurous.
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