The Importance of Socialnomics and Social Media as Instructional Content

Social media, social networking and "socialnomics" are mainstays in today's business world. Those businesses who want to stay ahead of the curve are using social media tools to tap into the Internet network to launch campaigns, entice customers, and recruit employable talent.

What are schools doing?

Blocking these sites with filters.

If we don't teach our students who will? We need to teach our students the following: 1) How to use social media as a tool. 2) How to protect one's self while using social media. 3) How to leverage information and data in social media, and 4) How to use social media to make positive connections with the world of work. That means we as teachers have to be social media experts. Most teachers fear this task. Fear no more. We must wade into the social stream and navigate its depths. It is our job to protect, educate, and enlighten our students. Since common core curriculum emphasizes "college and career readiness" as outcomes, we must take into account all aspects of this outcome. Dealing with real world readiness is part of this recipe. Where to do this? I believe that library media specialists can deliver this information quite well. It should be integrated into web literacy lessons. Problem: many schools have eliminated library media specialists. (I am one of these people!) Thus, educators, where do we teach web literacy? I now have that task in my new role, but it is a task that we all should address. Our students' literacy is at stake.

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