Nursing education 2.0: Poke me. Where's your face in space?

Abstract

MICHELLE SLATALLA IS A WRITER FOR "CYBERFAMILIAS," a biweekly column in the New York Times about the changing landscape of family life under the influence of the net. In a recent column, "omg [oh my God] my mom joined facebook!!" she told how she, a mother, signed up on Facebook to learn more about the phenomenon of social networking. Her daughter, needless to say, thought it was "creepy" to have adults, especially her mother, on Facebook. * The writer tells of her conversation with Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University whose research focuses on social networks. Wesch essentially "pointed out that there are a number of other social networks--sober, grown-up places like Linkedin.com (for making business contacts) and Care2.com (for social activists) and Webbiographies.com (for amateur genealogists)--where I could cavort without offending my daughter" (1). After reading this column, I decided it was time for me to explore how some of these popular social networking tools can be used in higher education. * This is the third in a series of articles about Web 2.0 tools and their potential for transforming nursing education. According to a Horizon 2007 report, the time-to-adoption for social networking tools is one year or less (2, p. 12). So, unless you are retiring this upcoming academic year, you too may want to learn more about possible uses for social networking tools in your academic community. What Are Social Networking Tools? According to the Pew Internet American Life Project study on social networking and teens, "a social networking site is an online location where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to other users" (3, p. 2). Social networking is one of the most pervasive Web 2.0 tools available. "It is all about making connections and participating in online communities. These connections allow people with similar interests, profiles or other commonalities to share ideas and get connected ... the website knows who the user's friends are, may even know people that the user would like to meet or things the user likes to do" (2, p. 12). Just to give you an idea of the scope of social networking, here are the major findings of the recent teens study (3, p. 2): * 55 percent of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55 percent have used social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. * 66 percent of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible by all Internet users. * 48 percent of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26 percent visit once per day, and 22 percent visit several times a day. * Older girls (ages 15 to 17) are more likely than older boys to have used social networking sites and online profiles. Seventy percent, compared with 54 percent of boys, have used an online social network; and 70 percent have created an online profile, compared with 57 percent of boys. * The teens reported that social networking helps them manage their friendships. Almost all (91 percent) use the sites to keep in touch with friends, even those they see frequently in F2F (face-to-face) situations. A smaller number (82 percent) use these sites to keep in touch with those friends they do not see F2F. Most (72 percent) make plans with friends through these networks, and half use them to make new friends. There is no doubt that this phenomenon is pervasive in the net generation and provides lots of headaches for parents, school administrators, teachers, faculty, and IT administrators. But it is a phenomenon that is not going to disappear (4). Two of the most popular social networking tools are Facebook and MySpace. On its website (www.facebook.com/about.php), Facebook is described as "a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. …