Social Networking as an Educational Tool

   As the use of technology and social networking got popular among many people, educators considered turning this mainstream use of social networking into an educational tool. Through what Web 2.0 tools have provided, education have been enhanced with the help of social networking. Keeping in touch and communication are very important key parts in education thus, Wikipedia, Folksonomy sites etc. provides users to contribute to the spread of the correct knowledge. This way, it provides users to interact.

   With the development of the Web 2.0 tools, the main purpose of social networking became participation rather than just publishing. In learner centered online education, learners have the tools that can provide them activeness and constructing their experiences which is creativity. 

      Although these tools are great use to the learners, they also have disadvantages and some limitations:

• Content is mostly created by the users, it lacks reliability 
• New technology demands a very short attention span and only focuses on the short answer of the learners 
• It is discussed whether social networking has real learning value or not because instead of gradually learning, the information that is searched is only for the immediate use of the users.

   Learner behavior is also shaped accordingly  to the tools. They seek learning first-hand experiences and visual or auditory sources for more concrete learning. They tend to prefer groupworks, demand for more entertaining and engaging content, able to multi-task, have good scanning skills instead of reading whole things to learn, etc. 

   Engaging learners in the content allows them to be more active in their learning and experience more. So, the responsibility of the teachers is not  just learning more about these tools and social networking but also using it in educational context.

   In conclusion, Web 2.0 based course design provides an effective way of learning through the activation of multiple skills such as interacting, creating etc.