A Thing: The 18th One. (Networking.)

As a human being, we naturally require connections with other human beings, and as our world moves more and more towards the realm of the virtual and the technological, our connections must tag along, thusly.  This means that there is one thing of ours, that is the utmost importance, that must tag along especially closely.  (Networking.)

Without networking, we would know very few people--even no one, arguably.  It is crucial for educators to be able to establish social connections, just as it is crucial for any other member of society. Therefore, it is also crucial for educators to familiarize themselves with the new-fangled technological tool, social networking.

While I tend to believe that social networking tools don't really have a place in the classroom (they tend to just act as distractions), networking certainly does.  It is just as important for students to make connections as it is for teachers.  So, while it may not be appropriate for a teachers and students to make  online social networking connections, online social networking tools could prove as being very useful for student-to-student relationships, and teacher-to-teacher relationships.  Websites such as Facebook act partially as contact books, which, of course, is useful.  However, Facebook, and other sites like Twitter can strengthen bonds among peers and colleagues, as they also act as a means of sharing small thoughts and life events.  This personalizes the social connection between "friends" and "followers".

I have a Facebook, myself, which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/magjacks.  I have had an overall good experience with Facebook, since I created it.  However, I have found that it is moreso a distraction than anything else, a lot of the time.  I also think it may heigthen my awareness of others' approval of me.  For this reason, I feel that a certain maturity is required to use websites like Facebook. However, I think that having social networking connections is expected, nowadays, and that this is actually a mostly beneficial bandwagon to jump on.