Digital literacy and digital citizenship, including knowing how to effectively use social media, are fast becoming required skills as college admissions officers and employers increasingly want candidates with social media savvy. For those seeking career opportunities and advancement, developing an effective social presence via LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, for example, is a must. All students are increasingly expected to develop these 21st century competencies despite wide variability in the quality of learning opportunities schools provide. Social network sites (SNSs), and the relationships that develop therein, provide supportive opportunities for learning than can compliment or supplement school-based opportunities. In this talk, you will learn what current educational research has to say about how adolescents and young adults, especially those from low-income families, are using social network sites and new social networking applications to their advantage.
