Why I Use Facebook.(And why you should,

too.)Elizabeth A. Evans

UNC-Chapel HillITS Teaching and Learning

December 2007

its.unc.edu 2

ScopeScope

Your kids and Facebook/MySpace

Legal, moral, ethical issues of student use

“How to” create, use, configure

its.unc.edu 3

ScopeScope

Features that might be useful…

Issues related to use…

… to and for us, to and for our faculty, to and for other campus staff

its.unc.edu 4

You TalkYou Talk

How many of you use Facebook?

its.unc.edu 5

And?And?

Any other social networks?

its.unc.edu 6

You Talk Some MoreYou Talk Some More

Anybody not have a basic understanding of

what Facebook is?

This is gonna be hard…

its.unc.edu 7

A Very Short Definition

A Very Short Definition

Facebook is a Web-based service that makes it possible for individuals in high schools, universities, corporations, non-profits, the military, and geographic communities (primarily English-speaking ) to interact with each other and to share information.

its.unc.edu 8

And…And…

It’s free for individuals…

its.unc.edu 9

A Very Short HistoryA Very Short History

In 2004, a student at Harvard thought it would be cool to develop a way for Harvard students to connect with each other. Now there are millions of Facebook users.

“So, what’s a social gal like you doing in a virtual place like this?”

del.icio.us

its.unc.edu 11

How and When I Came to Facebook

How and When I Came to Facebook

Fall 2005(30 minutes)

Fall 2006(Several hours,some people, a couple of groups,some effort)

its.unc.edu 12

How and When I Came to Facebook

How and When I Came to Facebook

September 2006

Women's center brown bag: Dangers of online social networks

Danah Boyd talk on social networking

(On the same day!)

I was obviously missing something.

its.unc.edu 13

Your turnYour turn

When I logged back into Facebook, what was (almost) the first thing I did?

its.unc.edu 14

Back to the Drawing Board

Back to the Drawing Board

Created a more complete profile

Searched for campus faculty and staff

Posted some photos (N=8)

Wrote my first note September 29

Posted (and removed) links

Created an event September 26

And more…

its.unc.edu 15

TodayToday

Profiles

Events

Groups

Notes

Applications

“Fan of…”

Mini-Feed

its.unc.edu 16

On Your OwnOn Your Own

Everything else :-)

its.unc.edu

Your ProfileYour Profile

its.unc.edu 18

Let’s Talk SpecificsLet’s Talk Specifics

What can and should go on your profile?

its.unc.edu

EventsEvents

its.unc.edu 27

Events I’ve Created Events I’ve Created

Games4Learning symposium Cyberinfrastructure: A Campus Perspective Discussion: The (Technology) Tipping Point From Learning Objects to Learning Impact: An Update

on the IMS... Instructional Uses for Facebook Immersive Learning Environments ITS Open Lunch A Virtual Environment for Education: Second Life ITS Coffee Klatch And a few others…

An example event

Event example, part 1

Event example, part 2

Event example, part 3

its.unc.edu 32

An Funny Thing Happened…

An Funny Thing Happened…

More than 50% of the “Yes” RSVPs were not people I invited.

“Instructional Uses for Facebook”

its.unc.edu 33

Another Funny Thing Happened…

Another Funny Thing Happened…

I invited 48 people. At the time of the event, 95 people were invited.

“The (Technology) Tipping Point”

its.unc.edu

GroupsGroups

Group Example

Group Example, Part 1

Group Example, Part 2

its.unc.edu 39

Groups: AdvantagesGroups: Advantages

Feeling of community

Place to post news/info/etc

Can be open or with approval

Event sponsorship

Others?

its.unc.edu 40

Groups: Disadvantages

Groups: Disadvantages

Lots of them

Little activity in many of them

Not easy (yet) to see what’s new

Others?

its.unc.edu

NotesNotes

Go Heels (she said, quietly)

its.unc.edu

ApplicationsApplications

its.unc.edu

Mini-FeedMini-Feed

its.unc.edu

A Few ConclusionsA Few Conclusions

its.unc.edu 52

ConclusionsConclusions

Social networking can be very powerful

Social networking can be a time sink

Social networking can enhance professional relationships

Social networking can be used for marketing

We don’t yet know all the ways we might use social networking professionally…

its.unc.edu

Explore.Experiment.

Be Open.

Explore.Experiment.

Be Open.

its.unc.edu

Final Call: Questions? Comments?

Final Call: Questions? Comments?