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!