Social Networking Site

The Bebo social networking site went live in 2005. It stands for “blog early, blog often” and was aimed at 30-somethings but was not quite a hit. The site is still in existence but was sold to 2008 to AOL. It is popular because the moderators are there for support and the users can do unique things like doodle and scribble on each others pages. There has not been a demise of Bebo as of yet but I read that AOL is looking to sell so this may be for profit or to unload it because of demise. I think the competitors, like Facebook and MySpace, are more popular because Bebo is ranked #3 for social networking sites. Also, I always hear about MySpace and Facebook more often but I have heard of Bebo which means it is probably mainstream (I am behind concerning computer stuff). I do not think I would open an account. It seems to have some fun things to add to a profile but I don’t know that many people with a Bebo account so I don’t think I would use it that much. I have a Facebook account and most people I know use that so it is better to keep in contact with friends and such. Also, I can’t keep up with belonging to so many sites so I try to focus on one.

Classroom 2.0

“Engagement trumps topic”…Steve Hargadon states this in his blog. He is referring to building effective social networks and I like this. This seems so true about the internet. People can create as many social networks as they can about as many topics they can think of but if no one is engaged in the site then participants will not come back to it.
I am stumped as to how one can create this engagement or if it’s kismet. Doesn’t it depend on the participants and their dynamic? Isn’t it sort of like the luck of the draw? I don’t see that someone can ensure the engagement.
As far as content or a class that social networking may work…subjects like English or history because there would most likely be a lot to discuss. I am also thinking of an art class or music class because of the access to post or link to artwork or audio or video clips. I do not think social networking would be such a great idea for math because I am not that into the subject and therefore do not see much potential for social networking. Then again, “engagement trumps topic” so there is no guarantee for success based on content or subject!