Social Networking

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Click here for a great picture!

SITES TO CREATE:

Facebook

BookGlutton lets you create virtual groups to meet up in the digital books and have discussions on any chapter. You can also chat by leaving comments and sharing them with each other.

Yammer

Zerista is a next generation mobile optimized ning alternative.

BigTent offers a free platform to support community groups

BlogtronixMicro is a real-time communication tool for you and your friends or coworker

Disqus (Pronounced “discuss” - get it?) is a site neutral comment management system. I’ve used it in the past and enjoy the interface and tools available. It can be embedded into another tool like Moodle/Tumblr/Google Sites/etc. Might be a useful addition to get people where they want to be.

Grouply provides a free alternative to Ning. Grouply has announced they will soon have a Ning-to-Grouply migration tool to facilitate moving a site.

EDU 2.0

Mixxt.net

WiserEarth Groups

Google Groups

Weebly

Yuku - Promotes itself as "the" alternative to Ning, it looks and feels much like Ning, though has many more features and load capacity, much of which comes only as premium with Ning, whereas is free with Yuku

ARTICLES:

Be Careful What You Post

A New Face for Schools

Footprints - Digital That is

Science 2.0

The Seven Top Social Networking Sites for Kids

Ways to Use Facebook in Your Classroom

Social Networks and Kids: How Young is too Young?

WEBSITES/CLASSROOM EXAMPLES:

Web Tools 4 Y 2 Use

20 Social Networks for Lifelong Learners