Appraising Facebook

If you’ve ever skipped class to update your Facebook profile you can feel a bit vindicated knowing that you’re probably learning a few valuable skills along the way.

A new study released by the University of Minnesota suggests use of online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can have strong educational benefits for students.

Christine Greenhow, a researcher from the university who led the study, said researchers found students using social networking sites learned and used skills related to communication, collaboration, creativity, knowledge synthesis and critical thinking — all valuable skills to have in today’s world.

“We wanted to see what students were actually doing on these sites and what we found was they were developing the kinds of core competencies we want them to develop in today’s digital age,” Greenhow said.

Greenhow also suggests such sites can help students become better digital citizens by learning how to avoid online abuse and fraud, be safe and responsible and report harassment in the digital world. It’s all part of making students not only competent with important technologies but eager to use them as well.

“We want students to have a positive attitude to using technology in their lives — we don’t want them to be afraid of using it,” Greenhow said.

Liss Jeffrey, director of the McLuhan Global Research Network at the University of Toronto, says the study shows that the educational benefits of the writing and communicating students do on social networking sites shouldn’t be ignored.

“We should encourage media literacy and I do think that this study says, ‘Let’s not write off these sites,’” Jeffrey said.

As proof that such technologies are no longer child’s play, many companies have already adopted and converted them for use in the business world. Instant-messaging software is popular as a communication tool at many offices, and an increasing number of employers are experimenting with their own Facebook-style networks to aid in teamwork and collaboration.

The bottom line is the skills kids learn on social networking sites are often directly transferrable to the real world — something Greenhow says gives kids who master those skills a leg up on the competition in the job market.

“Students who use these technologies in their school years will potentially be at an advantage when they join the workforce where these technologies are already in place,” Greenhow said.