School Librarians Lead in Social Networking

Media specialists are more likely to join social networking sites than teachers and principals—and they’re more likely to adopt a variety of content-sharing tools for personal, professional, and classroom use, says a new report.

“A Survey of K–12 Educators on Social Networking and Content-Sharing Tools” (bit.ly/2tT12m) found a significant difference in attitude and behavior among the three groups, with 70 percent of media specialists, 62 percent of teachers, and 54 percent of administrators who say they’ve joined a social network. Teachers are fully aware that students use this technology every day and believe they’ll need it for success in life, but they have very little time to use these tools in the classroom.

According to the survey—cosponsored by edWeb.net, a social networking site for educators; MCH, Inc., a compiler of databases and mailing lists; and education consulting firm, MMS Education—school librarians are most positive about the value of social networking in education, but they’re frustrated with their districts blocking access to Web sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Facebook is the most popular site for educators, with 85 percent reporting that they’re members, MySpace came in a distant second at 20 percent, and LinkedIn was third at 14 percent. Educators use these sites mainly to connect with family and friends. Although 85 percent of those surveyed have a Facebook account, 76 percent say they “seldom or never” use it. By comparison, they report higher usage on MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, and the education social networks. Social networks dedicated to education such as Classroom 2.0 and edWeb.net “have low penetration thus far,” but there’s growing awareness, and some survey respondents were pleased to learn about these sites from taking the survey.

“As more educators join social networks, and as younger people enter the education workforce, the adoption of this technology will continue to increase,” the report says.