Social media for schools

Can social media be an effective communication tool for keeping parents, teachers, students and the community informed about what is actually happening in schools?

The way we communicate and share information with one another has changed; Internet, social media and mobile phones are the way of the future...well, we can even say it is already the present.

Gen Z (born 1995-2012) is constantly connected to their social networks both digitally and emotionally. Almost 8 in 10 teens belong to some kind of social network and use it to chat with friends, share photos and videos, and play games. Being on social networks has become more common then using phones and emails and looks set to eclipse SMS too.

So in many countries around the world schools are already beginning to incorporate social media platforms such as forums, photo albums, blogs and secure messaging to develop discussions, communication and education through closer collaboration and knowledge sharing. I believe it is the way to go if precautions are taken.

Technology in general is giving schools a great opportunity to communicate with all its stakeholders in a way that has never been done in the past. If the education system is ever going to catch up with the rest of society and jump on the social media bandwagon, then we have to change the way we think about technology in classrooms and in our community. We can no longer see the Internet as something for home simply because it isn’t.

As this is a broad topic I’ll divide this post into several parts; next part will be on how schools should prepare to embrace social media as well as the benefits and risks.