A very interesting study was released recently from the National School Boards Association called "Creating and Connecting". It deals with the use of social networking tools by teenagers. An amazing 96% of online teens report the use of social networking technology and 9-17 year-olds report spending almost as much time on those networks as they spend watching television. Over 40% post comments at least once a week and over 20% do so every day.
You can get the report here.
This is obviously a very engaging environment and one that I think could be leveraged in an educational setting. This week when I was speaking to a group of K-12 teachers I tried to demonstrate Facebook, yet I was blocked by their network access policies. I understand the concerns about the appropriate use of software while at school, but this seems to be a misguided policy, and several teachers in the audience expressed their frustration to me. They said at home they often come across great educational materials, only to discover that it's blocked when they try to use it in the classroom. How are we going to reach kids if we don't do so using tools that are effective?
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