Educational Benefits Of Social Networking Sites Uncovered

ScienceDaily- June 20, 2008 In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested. The study found that, of the students observed, 94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson, followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills. Data were collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in thirteen urban high schools in the Midwest. Beyond the surveyed students, a follow-up, randomly selected subset were asked questions about their Internet activity as they navigated MySpace, an online forum that provides users with e-mail, web communities and audio and video capabilities. "What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today," said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university's College of Education and Human Development and principal investigator of the study. "Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential." Greenhow said that the study's results, while proving that social networking sites offer more than just social fulfillment or professional networking, also have implications for educators, who now have a vast opportunity to support what students are learning on the Web sites. "Now that we know what skills students are learning and what experiences they're being exposed to, we can help foster and extend those skills," said Greenhow. "As educators, we always want to know where our students are coming from and what they're interested in so we can build on that in our teaching. By understanding how students may be positively using these networking technologies in their daily lives and where the as yet unrecognized educational opportunities are, we can help make schools even more relevant, connected and meaningful to kids." Interestingly, researchers found that very few students in the study were actually aware of the academic and professional networking opportunities that the Web sites provide. Making this opportunity more known to students, Greenhow said, is just one way that educators can work with students and their experiences on social networking sites. The study also goes against previous research from Pew in 2005 that suggests a "digital divide" where low-income students are technologically impoverished. That study found that Internet usage of teenagers from families earning $30,000 or below was limited to 73 percent, which is 21 percentage points below what the U of M research shows. The students participating in the U of M study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in an after school program, Admission Possible, aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.

Greenhow suggests that educators can help students realize even more benefits from their social network site use by working to deepen students' still emerging ideas about what it means to be a good digital citizen and leader online.

"Educational Benefits of Social Networking Sites Uncovered." Science Daily. 20 Jun. 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

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Social Learning: Can Facebook and Related Tools Improve Educational Outcomes?

ScienceDaily May 9, 2011 Online social networking sites, such as Facebook, can help students become academically and socially integrated as well as improving learning outcomes, according to a study by researchers in China and Hong Kong. Writing in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, explain that Facebook usage is around 90% across campuses and many educational institutions offer new students orientation on how to capitalize on social networking to improve their experience of their course and their final results. Many previous studies of social networking have focused on identity presentation, privacy, and how social networks form. Much of the popular response to the advent of web 2.0 tools is that they can have a detrimental effect on students by being nothing more than trivial distractions from serious study. However, Stella Wen Tian of the University of Science & Technology of China (Suzhou Campus) and Angela Yan Yu, Douglas Vogel and Ron Chi-Wai Kwok of City University of Hong Kong, suggest that students' online social networking directly influences social learning and can positively influence academic learning. The team carried out discussions with college students to understand current online social networking experience and attitude towards using Facebook for education. They hoped to understand the influence of online social networking and how educational institutions might improve pedagogical orientation and practices, especially given that peer pressure has been recognized in various studies as one of the most important influences on student life. "The typical social network pattern on Facebook is often in a core-periphery mode: an individual has close relationships with core friends and weak relationships with many others," the team says. "Online social networking applications such as Facebook offer an efficient platform for college students' socialization by expanding their network scope and maintaining close relationships." There were two main aspects of student Facebook use, the team found: one social and one educational. Students reported that it could enhance and maintain friendships, build social networks/establish virtual relationships , diminish barriers to making friends, follow peer trends, share photos, for fun and leisure and to keep in touch with family. In terms of learning, students reported that Facebook allowed them to connect with the faculty and other students in term of friendship/social relationship, provide comments to peers/share knowledge, share feelings with peers, join Groups established for subjects, collaboration: notification, discussion, course schedule, project management calendar and to use educational applications for organizing learning activities.

The team says that, "Facebook greatly influences college students' social life and shows good potential in coping with the challenges that students face." They conclude that, "Educational institutions may need to adopt active (but somewhat restrained) actions to utilize existing social network applications such as Facebook for education. Teaching activities will need to be appropriately designed for different target populations. The breakthrough point may start from students' social learning." Social Learning: Can Facebook and Related Tools Improve Educational Outcomes? Science Daily. 9 May 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The New Rules of Online Job Hunting

By MICHELLE GOODMAN Jan. 7, 2011 As any astute job seeker knows, the days of sitting on your duff 20, 30 or 40 hours a week while scouring the online job boards are over. But it's not enough to simply slap a profile on LinkedIn, or make a couple of pithy tweets, and wait to see whether any of your contacts announce an employment opening. To truly be a web-savvy job seeker, you need to embrace the new rules of online job hunting. Follow them, and it could make the difference between a protracted employment hunt and starting your next gig before spring. Using Job Boards as Research Tools Forget about applying for work through the online jobs boards and posting your resume on them for all the recruiters of the world to see. Instead, the judicious job seeker uses online job sites for research only; sniffing out which companies are hiring, what sort of candidates they're looking for and what experience is required. Then she'll mine her LinkedIn, Facebook and other online networks for a contact who can make an introduction to a mover and shaker at the companies she's learned are hiring. Why send your resume into the jobs@somecompany.com void when you can have a real live person at the firm you're targeting pass along your resume for you? Creating an Online Presence Gone are the days of your resume being your self-promotion mainstay. Today it's all about earning a rock star reputation online. "Use blogs and social networks to communicate what makes you a special and attractive candidate. Attract the right job opportunities by explaining

what you're passionate about and the types of jobs you're interested in," said personal branding expert Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future." Candidates who really want to stand out from the digital crowd may have to up the online ante, Schawbel added. Among his top suggestions: contributing articles to industry newsletters and websites, crafting a catchy video to promote your talents and creating a Google AdWords advertising campaign that points potential employers to your website. Pre-Emptive Networking Don't wait until you're looking for work to start schmoozing up a storm -- do it now. "Regardless of whether you are looking for a new job, aim to establish meaningful, one-on-one relationships with individuals who share your career interests and are a few steps ahead of you on the ladder," said workplace expert Alexandra Levit, whose books include "How'd Your Score That Gig?" and "New Job, New You." That way, you'll be ahead of the game next time you find yourself searching for work. Think about it. How would you rather conduct your next job hunt? By e-mailing 30 of your most trusted industry colleagues that you're in the market for a new gig, or scrambling to first assemble that cadre of 30 close colleagues? Seeking Out Hiring Managers Why leave the ball entirely in the court of those doing the hiring if you don't have to? Rather than conducting a plain old passive job search, Schawbel recommends conducting "a people search." How? 1. Research which five to 10 companies you'd most like to work for. 2. Use Google and LinkedIn to figure out which positions at these firms best match your skills and experience, and to find employees on those teams or in those departments. (Get in-depth LinkedIn tips here.) 3. Use LinkedIn, Twitter and face-to-face professional events to get to know these employees. Avoid the temptation to ask if they can hook you up with a job.

4. Once you've established a rapport with someone at your target employer, ask them to help you set up an informational interview there and to forward your resume to those in the hiring seat. Even better if you've already done your contact a favor first. "This way, you're connecting directly with people who can hire or refer you, which is the easiest path to getting a job," Schawbel explained. "This works much better than submitting your resume blindly into a recruiting database that won't even get looked at." If you hit a dead end, don't give up. The more contacts you cultivate at your target companies, the better your odds of landing a position there. Happy New Year, and good hunting to all! Goodman, Michelle. The New Rules of Online Job Hunting. ABC. 07 Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Companies Are Erecting In-House Social Networks

By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF Published: June 26, 2011 What would Facebook look like without photos of drunken nights out and tales of misbehaving cats? It might look a lot like the internal social network at the offices of Nikon Instruments. The tone is decidedly businesslike, as employees exchange messages about customer orders, new products and closing deals. And the general rule is that if you dont want your company president to see it, dont post it, said John G. Bivona, a customer relations manager at Nikon Instruments, which makes microscopes. As social networks increasingly dominate communications in private lives, businesses of all sizes from tiny start-ups to midsize companies like Nikon to behemoths like Dell are adopting them for the workplace. Although it is difficult to quantify how many companies use internal social networks, a number of corporate software companies have sensed the opportunity and offer various systems, some free to existing customers, others that charge a fee per user. Its one more instance of how consumer technology trends, like the use of tablet computers, are crossing into office life. Because of Facebook, most people are already comfortable with the idea of following their colleagues. But in the business world, the connections are between

colleagues, not personal friends or family, and the communications are meant to be about work matters like team projects, production flaws and other routine business issues. At Nikon, for example, which employs 500 people in offices throughout the United States, Canada and Brazil, a code of conduct for using the service leaves little room for the idle chit-chat that is pervasive on Facebook. Still, it can be tricky to transport the mores and practices of social networking into the office. For instance, some workers prefer to be lurkers who read posts rather than write them. Others are just not interested. At Symantec, the computer security company, a few employees initially disliked the idea of an internal social network, but nevertheless used it to air their complaints. Another issue is how to protect corporate secrets. The systems are generally set up so that companies can determine who sees particular files and who belongs to specific groups on the network. Yet problems still arise over where the data is ultimately stored. Some social network providers use their own servers. But that may conflict with the rules of some potential clients that prohibit storing company information outside their firewall, said Susan Landry, an analyst with Gartner. Companies that provide social networks respond to the concerns by emphasizing their rigorous security. Still, some offer networks that allow customers to keep their data on their own servers. And employees may post private information more widely than they should. Its sometimes a disaster, Ms. Landry said. It sometimes gets shut down by security or compliance. At the same time, even though companies make clear in etiquette guides how to use the networks, missteps occur. For example, at Symantec, a worker posted his cats photo in his profile instead of his own. A well-meaning worker at Nikon alerted everyone to apple pie in the kitchen; never mind that colleagues in other offices were not interested. One of the biggest providers of corporate social networks is Salesforce.com, the online business software company based in San Francisco. It said 80,000 companies use its corporate social network, Chatter, up from around 10,000 when it was introduced a year ago. Yammer, a startup and also based in San Francisco, said its service is used by more than 100,000 companies, up from around 80,000 a year ago.

SAP, Cisco Systems, Socialtext, Jive Software and SuccessFactors are also pushing their products. Last month, VMware joined the list when it acquired Socialcast, one of the earlier networking services. Salesforce and Yammer both offer free versions of their social networks to companies. Salesforce charges $15 per user a month for its premium network existing software customers pay nothing extra, however while Yammers costs $5 per user a month. At Symantec, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., more than a third of the 18,500 employees are able to use Chatter. More employees, and potentially some of the companys partners, will be added to the network later this summer. But not everyone who can use it does so. Chatters analytic system, which can identify the most influential users, shows that only around 40 percent of the sales team is active on the service, said Tacy Parker, global sales force manager at Symantec. Still, Troy McKaskle, a chief technology officer at Symantec, is an evangelist for Chatter, which he says helps employees with everything from getting advice about how to configure their iPads to getting feedback on projects. Mr. McKaskle follows around a dozen groups on the service, and posts messages frequently. On a recent day, he wrote, Get ready for Odyssey! using a code name for a new technology that Symantec is developing. Dare I ask what Odyssey is? a colleague responded. Keeping posts relevant is important to the success of social networking within companies, managers of the networks agree. White noise will only annoy people and cause them to ignore the services. Employees can always stop following colleagues who post inane comments about their lunch, or they can quit groups in which they are no longer involved. On the other hand, employees in farflung offices can use the network to be noticed in a way that would otherwise be impossible. A Symantec salesman in Dubai, for instance, has built a large following by creating a group that dispenses sales tips. Colleagues from around the world contribute advice too. Although generally serious in tone, some corporate social networks have a lighter touch that recalls some of Facebooks whimsy. A new feature on Yammer, for example, lets employees praise colleagues by giving them a gold star, among other accolades.

Bosses can also take the pulse of the work force by posting a poll. Recently, Yammer introduced the ability to post videos. Weve only built about 10 percent of what we want to build, said David O. Sacks, Yammers chief executive, who unabashedly describes his service as very Facebook-like. One of the benefits of social networks for many employees is a decline in e-mail use. Instead of sending out mass mailings, workers post messages or collaborate on presentations within the service. Of course, social networks have not replaced many of the existing tools for collaborating, like Microsoft SharePoint. Nor have meetings become obsolete. Scott Lake, director of V.I.P. marketing at Caesars Entertainment, the casino colossus based in Las Vegas, said his team used Chatter to coordinate and promote events like Celine Dion concerts for the casinos best customers. Online groups set up for each event help ensure that everyone involved has the most up-to-date information. Questions and answers are visible to everyone in the group. Doing the same thing via e-mail would be cumbersome if not impossible. Before, we got on conference calls and hoped the information would be passed around, Mr. Lake said. Now, we have a lot fewer calls and meetings. Kopytoff, Verne. Companies Are Erecting In-House Social Networks. New York Times. 26 Jun. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Social Networking Benefits Validated Karen Goldberg Guff January 28, 2009 Washington Times
Texting, blogs, Facebook, gaming and instant messages might seem, to some, to be just more reasons to stare at a computer screen. Thinking like that is so 2008, any middle schooler will tell you. Now a study that looked at the online habits of 800 teenagers backs them up. Researchers in the study, titled the Digital Youth Project and conducted primarily at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, found that in our increasingly technological world, the constant communication that social networking provides is encouraging useful skills. The study looked at more than 5,000 hours of online observation and

found that the digital world is creating new opportunities for young people to grapple with social norms, explore interests, develop technical skills and work on new forms of self-expression. There are myths about kids spending time online that it is dangerous or making them lazy, says Mizuko Ito, lead author of the study, which will be the basis of a forthcoming book, Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning With New Media. But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age. Co-author Lisa Tripp, now an assistant professor at Florida State University, says technology, including YouTube, iPods and podcasting, creates avenues for extending ones circle of friends, boosts self-directed learning and fosters independence. Certain technical skills in the coming years are not going to be just about consuming media, she says. It is also going to be about producing media. It is not just about writing a blog, but also how to leave comments that say something. Learning to communicate like this is contributing to the general circulation of culture. That means anything from a video clip to a profile page is going to reflect the self-expression skills one has, so teens might as well practice what will say who they are. Social networking also contributes greatly to teens extended friendships and interests, Ms. Tripp says. While the majority of teens use sites such as MySpace and Facebook to hang out with people they already know in real life, a smaller portion uses them to find like-minded people. Before social networking, the one kid in school who was, say, a fan of Godzilla or progressive politics might find himself isolated. These days, that youngster has peers everywhere. This kind of communication has let teens expand their social circle by common interests, Ms. Tripp says. They can publicize and distribute their work to online audiences and become sort of a microexpert in that area. The study found that young peoples learning with digital media often is more self-directed, with a freedom and autonomy that is less apparent than in a classroom. The researchers said youths usually respect one anothers authority online, and they often are more motivated to learn from one another than from adults. Goldberg Guff, Karen. Social Networking Benefits Validated. Washington Post. 28 Jan. 2009 Web. 27 Oct. 2011 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Charities Harness Social Media to Raise Awareness, Money

On April 14, actor Hugh Jackman pledged to give AUS $100,000 to the charity that could best convince him, via Twitter, that it was deserving of the award. On Friday, Jackman announced that, unable to decide, he had chosen two winners to split the prize: Operation of Hope, a medical foundation that donates surgical procedures to children in developing countries born

with facial deformities, and Charity: Water, a non-profit dedicated to providing safe drinking water in developing countries. One of the winning tweets came from Charity: Water president and founder Scott Harrison, who tweeted a link to a photo of a group of Ethiopian children holding up a hand-made sign with the simple message "Dear Mr. Hugh Jackman, thank you for helping us!" Harrison added: "dear @realhughjackman -- just snapped this near eritrean border at a school of 1400 w/o clean water." Charity: Water is only one of many examples of non-profits using social media to raise awareness and encourage donations. Although the media is always abuzz about the latest corporation to open a Twitter account or YouTube channel, research indicates that it's actually non-profits that are most likely to make a push into the world of online social media -- and reap its benefits. Charity 2.0 This isn't the first time that Charity: Water has harnessed the power of social media to fund its projects. In February, it was the beneficiary of Twitter-based charity drive Twestival, when it posted daily videos of its ongoing efforts to drill wells in Ethiopia. In March, it was the first charity to use YouTube's Call-to-Action feature, a video overlay available to non-profit users that links viewers to a group's donation page. "The whole world is changing because of social media," said Harrison, who was pleasantly surprised to learn of Jackman's donation. "It's really become a force for good and a great way to educate people. It's a powerful way to tell a story to hundreds of thousands of people." Other charities have also ventured into online video and social networking. 24 Hours for Darfur uses YouTube videos to bring the stories of genocide survivors to a global audience. The Humane Society created a YouTube contest asking viewers to create videos responding to the Michael Vick dogfighting controversy. And the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Bronx Zoo posts videos of adorable animals to draw attention to its work protecting wildlife. In a 2007 report entitled Blogging for the Hearts of Donors, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor Nora Barnes and research partner Eric Mattson found that nearly three out of four U.S. charities used social media, especially online video, as a key component of their outreach and fundraising. Nearly half of the major charities surveyed made use of social media; in contrast, earlier Dartmouth studies suggested that only 8% of Fortune 500 companies had any social media involvement. "There is more of a financial incentive for charities to use social media," explained Barnes, who is director of Dartmouth's Center for Marketing Research. "Traditionally, they have had less money for advertising and PR; now they can level the playing field through the use of social media. For the first time, they can compete with big companies with little or no funds. They are moving quickly into social media, more quickly than any other group we've studied."

Rachel Beer, a founding partner of Beautiful World, a fundraising and marketing agency that works with charities and social enterprises, explained the advantages of social media for charities: They are free (in the main), fast, flexible, and they enable charities to engage with large numbers of existing and prospective supporters. They provide charities with greater opportunities to share more information about the important work that they do, and to seek and receive feedback. They also allow individuals to engage with charities in a way that is convenient to them and of their choosing, which -- provided charities follow the principle of engagement first, before asking for support -- provides the opportunity to build deeper, more loyal, relationships. The Power of Video Beer emphasized that charities shouldn't think it necessary that they leap into every form of social media; rather they should think about what best fits their needs. "Charities shouldn't feel they have to use every social media channel available," she said, "They should be clear about the audiences they need to engage with to meet their strategic objectives, and chose the channels, messages and types of activities that will work for those audiences and fit with the charity's work and culture." Although Twitter is an increasingly popular way for charities to communicate with potential donors, it's online video where most feel they can best make their case. Harrison noted that the trick to making a compelling case in 140 characters is to include a link to a three-to-four minute video. Of those charities surveyed by Barnes and Mattson, 41% used online video. Harrison agreed that video was by far the best way to tell a story online. "The ability of sites like YouTube to embed is especially important to charities," said Harrison, "Supporters can embed it on their sites and it becomes part of their identity. It lets them show everyone else that this is a cause they support." Plus, activists and supporters can embed those videos on their own sites, helping to spread them virally. "If a video is funny and engaging, people respond more than they do to the standard PSA model that we've seen on TV for years," said Ramya Raghavan, YouTube's non-profits and activism manager. "Video has this amazing power to compel someone to want to take action in a way that just reading text wouldn't. But non-profits have to up their game since so many users have interesting videos." Raghavan cited her personal favorite video, a clip put out by Haagen Daz to draw attention to the problem of disappearing honeybees, as an example of a video that drew attention to an important issue in a memorable, entertaining way.

Raising Money Non-profits' attempts to engage potential donors through social media are paying off in some cases. "Social media are still largely unproven for mass-market fundraising, although there are some examples, like TweetsGiving and Twestival, which provide an indication of the future potential of these channels," said Beer. "Their real power will be realized when charities have built up some experience about what works, get better at integrating their various messages, activities and media -- on and offline -- and begin to use them more strategically." Charity: Water's featured video on YouTube resulted in approximately $10,000 in donations, enough to build two brand new wells in the Central African Republic that will provide over 150 people with clean drinking water for 20 years. On a typical day, Harrison said that Charity: Water receives several thousand dollars in donations. The day of the Call-to-Action video was especially heavy, due to the public attention the charity received on World Water Day, but Harrison said that about half of the day's $20,000 in donations could be attributed to the YouTube feature. "There's a little more of a back and forth than watching on TV," said Raghavan. "We see that people want to use YouTube because of the opportunity for interactivity. It turns passive watchers into active workers." The instantaneous nature of social media is a boon for charities that often must not only convince a potential donor that a charity is worthwhile but must also keep them convinced long enough to actually donate. While TV appeals may tug at viewers' heartstrings, many forget what they've seen before they can make time to make a contribution. James Norris of Social Uproar, a blog that monitors charity use of social media, posted a list of suggestions for charities hoping to encourage donations with online video, including: > Watch and research other charities' videos > Make your video interesting > Include a call to action at the end > Seed the video using relevant keywords and descriptions > Let your user base know that the video exists by sending out an email with a link to the video > Once you have the embed code seed it on social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc.) > Encourage people to share the video Beer suggested that charities "Think strategically, update regularly, engage personally, be transparent and be yourself." For Harrison, the advice for charities using social media was even simpler: "Just do good work and produce quality content." Rosen-Molina, Mike. How Charities Harness Social Media to Raise Awareness, Money. Media Shift PBS. 28 April 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why not call it a Facebook revolution?

Chris Taylor February 24, 2011
Tunisians filled the streets with the help of Twitter. Egypt's protests were coordinated on Facebook pages like that of internet activist Wael Ghonim. Libyan dissenters spread the word about their "day of rage" last week the same way. And yet, in these heady days where the entire Middle East seems to be inspired to organize online in revolt against autocracy, it has become fashionable for experts to dismiss the role of social media in 2011's revolutions. "People protested and brought down governments before Facebook was invented," the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell opined on February 2. A few weeks later, The Financial Times' Gideon Rachman reminded us that "the French managed to storm the Bastille without the help of Twitter -- and the Bolsheviks took the Winter Palace without pausing to post photos of each other on Facebook." True enough -- and utterly irrelevant. Those uprisings had a strong assist from contemporary technology too. The Bolshevik revolution would hardly have happened without the telegraphs and trains that spirited Lenin to the Finland station at the right moment. And what would the French revolution have been without the latest high-tech gadget, hot from the workshop of Dr. Joseph Guillotin? Yes, of course, technology alone doesn't make revolutions. The will of the people is the most vital ingredient. To foment revolt, first let their resentment simmer for a few decades. But that doesn't mean social media cannot provide wavering revolutionaries with vital aid and comfort. Remember the kids interviewed in Tahir Square the night Mubarak resigned? What struck me most was what they were doing while waiting for the reporter to finish his introduction: thumbing on their smartphones. Want to hazard a guess at the website they were checking? Consider what Facebook is: It's the internet, refined and focused like a laser beam that bounces off you and your acquaintances with unsurpassed speed. None of its features are particularly new. They're tried and tested. We've been sharing instant messages, blog-like daily details and rants, and coordinating projects and meetups online since those Tahir Square kids were babes in arms. We've just never done all that in the same place, in front of so many of our friends, for hours at a time. We've never created a club that's half a billion people strong and growing faster than ever, a club with room in it for literally any point of view. And we've certainly never carried that club in our pockets, around the world. Consider what else that makes Facebook: Democracy in action, or at least the closest thing we see in our daily lives. A cacophony of viewpoints explode out of the briefest statements. Could you imagine how many comments you'd get on your Facebook wall in the next 10 minutes if you posted "I <3 Ghadaffi?" (Go ahead, try it. We'll wait.)

Now imagine you're a dictator trying to infiltrate those acres of free speech. Can't be done. Who wants to friend a Libyan secret policeman? (Ask your pals, they probably now think you are one.) Keeping a beady eye on who said what to whom in this cacophony could take a lifetime. You could, of course, shut down the entire internet. Mubarak tried that, and it quickly became apparent that he'd also cut off the country's lifeblood: commerce and tourism. Or you could do what China has done for the last two years, and block access to Twitter and Facebook specifically. In which case, you draw attention to their power, and give rise to homegrown copycats (such as Renren.com and Kaixin001, in China's case.) Gladwell is right to argue that only strong social ties create revolutions. But he is wrong to say that Twitter and Facebook constitute weak social ties. He may believe this because he is a highly productive writer, and may never have been sucked into a two-hour Facebook hole. Those of us who have know what it's like down there. It isn't some kind of vapid virtual bar scene. Okay, there is an element of that: The sense of perpetual party is what draws so many there in the first place. But what keeps us there is the fact that barriers between friends -- lack of time, too much distance, lazy years-long silences -- are annihilated. Post a quick dumb comment on an old estranged friend's status update, and the next thing you know you're trading viewpoints like college roommates. Start a Facebook group for your passion project, and realize you were never alone in wanting to make your ideal real. It is impossible to live in that kind of environment -- and make no mistake, we are starting to live there -- without noticing how much the real world fails to measure up. As Facebook continues to spread -- the trend line suggests it will reach 3 billion users, or roughly half the planet, by 2017 -- more and more monolithic cultures are in for a shock. True, not all of them are Middle East-style powder kegs. But sparks can ignite in all sorts of ways. For example, the fastest-growing segment of Facebook users is women over 55. Think what a smart, self-aware network of grandmas could do for the world's poorest regions. So perhaps there is one reason not to call events in Egypt and its ilk a Facebook revolution. The real Facebook revolution is global, and it's only just getting geared up. Taylor, Chris. Why Not Call It a Facebook Revolution? CNN. 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.