Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Power of the Social Network

This is a somewhat personal post, but we wanted to share and it is relevant!  Have a wonderful winter break everyone!

We were recently able to experience the power of the social network Facebook (thanks to Patrick)! Over the past few years Facebook has revolutionized the way that people interact with each other. Now you can not only post your profile, but also chat, post pictures, share interests, find old friends, and plan events!

A recent private Facebook event invited almost two thousand people to join in an event for a Christmas celebration. Three hundred people replied and showed up at a local high school in Howard County in order to practice and participate. What was the event you ask? Well, a flash mob! If you haven't heard of a flash mob before, check out one of the most popular ones from a train station in Belgium! Basically, people meet in a public location while pretending to shop, chat, and hang out. Then, a group forms seemingly out of nowhere to sing and/or dance. When it's over, the people leave as if nothing ever happened.

Facebook brought together three hundred of us from Howard County to perform Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree at Columbia Mall last night. Within an hour videos were already on YouTube (another web 2.0 tool), and within twelve hours the news had a hold the story! Just think of the possibilities with your students with a tool like Facebook (appropriately used in the classroom, of course)!

Check out the video below or this link to see the flash mob and the product of ONE Facebook page! See if you can spot Patrick, Steve, or me! Enjoy your time off from school.

 

Check back later for ideas with social networks in a more educational post! 

5 comments:

  1. Leslie,
    This was so much fun!! I'm glad that you and Steve were able to join me for the fun. And you are correct, this really shows the power of a social networking tool like facebook. Hopefully we will have more of these in the future and hey, maybe we could have an Ed Tech flashmob! LOL, ok, maybe not....

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  2. Sooooooo great! I loved that you shared this! As you and Patrick stated it shows the power of facebook and social networking. It makes me think of how Taylor Swift sent out a Tweet that she would be throwing a concert in 15 minutes at some local place and hundreds of people showed up. Seems like our society may be a little too plugged in. ;-)

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  3. I'm not going to lie- that was too fun. And I agree with Megan, our society really is obsessed with each other and staying in touch. When my students asked me how I found out about the flash mob I told them, "Where else? Facebook." It was self-explanatory. Facebook is the medium for keeping others updated. It seems like myspace was a million years ago. Nice post, Les!

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