"Social Network Sites as Social Learning Resources"

So, another reading, another day.  The thing I took away from this reading that we had to do, was the idea of the meaning of "friend". You can have friends on facebook and on myspace (which they talk about in the article), on twitter and tumblr and so many more social networking sites (SNS).  The definition of friend according to dictionary.com is "noun 1: a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. & 6. a person associated with another as a contact on a social networking website We've never met, but we're Facebook friends." 

We, as a SNS generation has made it so that the definition of friend has changed the meaning to something that relates to Social Networking.  It directly relates to someone we could have never met but still connect with on a SNS.  It kinda blows my mind, you know, the idea that the Internet is basically a whole different world but its such a "normal" resource that we use daily... no hourly... whether it be for school, work or for personal pleasure.  I personally can find that I can be a whole new person behind a computer (in a good way because I'm really shy in person) and have these great conversations with people I don't know, but if i was forced to do this in person I might freeze and not be able to go into the kind of depth I would be if I had a computer, phone or tablet in front of me.  

This reading assignment also made me think of how easy it is for people to get bullied.  Its such an awful topic but I remember being in high school getting lectured on how awful cyber bullying is.  It was a new topic to us because we hadn't really used many SNS before but man, it was a scary thought.  They would tell us stories about people who had committed suicide over comments people say on their pictures or profiles and I just wished I could have helped those poor people out.  I cant believe some people can be so cruel.  I have to be honest and say that I never imagined that computer would be such a huge part of learning.  Since Ive gotten into college, all my homework, reading and assignments have been  online, finding new sites to work on and such so much going on.  Since Ive taken my new literacies class, I have learned so many new sites that I can do cool things with.  I have used thimble, blogger, with known, hypothes.is, pixlr, flickr, twitter (in a whole new way with twitter chats) and so many more.  Moral or my post is, the SNS generation has really changed the meaning of friend and the way we are learning. All we have to do is keep an open mind about the Internet because it can be helpful for everyone. (Which I have learned recently too) Also, do not use the Internet for mean or hurtful things because it affects people beyond belief. Lastly, check out everything that can help you become a better student, worker, teacher or person! We can build our name up and there is so many sites out there to help.