on in social networking sites that really are not getting talked about in the popular media,

and so our study is really trying to look at what are some of those things

and then how can we help students teachers and parents think about these sites

in a way that can actually be beneficial.

I think definitely you see these sites really helping foster creativity

and communication in kids.

The kids are telling us that these sites really encourage them to express their opinions,

thoughts and emotions in very creative ways.

Like, you see kids that might have an interest in video editing, they learn a little bit

about it in school, and then because something sparks their interest they end

up creating a video, circulating it on their myspace pages, people find out about it,

they get all kinds of feedback on it and before you know theyve promoted themselves

and the issue they care about through this myspace community.

I think Ive also heard a lot of students talk about how its helping them

with their communication skills, so students who say its really hard for them to kind

of express themselves in writing have found blogs as a way to share their poetry

or talk about their ideas with other students and because they get comments on it

from friends they trust that encourages them to write even more.

Contrary to popular belief we find, were finding that students

from low income families are actually very connected.

That they are students who are finding ways to connect to the internet pretty much every day,

and often times these students, people dont usually think of them this way,

but they do have a computer at home, sometimes its a family owned computer connected

to the internet, sometimes its a laptop, and theyre using internet just like everyone else,

so I think they are very connected technologically

and I also think theyre pretty savvy.

So again, because most of them are going to their myspace,

predominately Myspace account every day, they are practicing these technological fluencies

that we want them to develop and theyre taking just the little bit of instruction they get

in school like how to use Adobe Photoshop like some other skills youd want students to develop

and then because theye interested in what they are doing

on Myspace they are practicing those skills and going even further.

There are some cautions that the kids themselves have identified and one of them being

that myspace can be a distraction away from other things they really have to do like work

and school and so I think for parents and teachers just talking about time management

and how to use Myspace as an effective study break rather than,

you know, get on there to long.

I also you know, have heard them talk about thinking about privacy issues and trust issues

in such big online communities, Myspace is a global community.

So the students have said maybe being able to talk to parents and teachers about how

to stay safe, how to be a responsible user of the internet or what we all a Digital Citizen,

would be conversations that they would welcome that would really help them.

Ive had several students talk to me about how theyve actually used myspace

for what it was intended to do, which is network, so when we talk to students who are

in their senior year of high school and theyre trying to apply to college and get admitted

to college and decide where they want to go and several of them have said to me

that through Myspace and Facebook they were able to make a good college decision and network

with other teens in colleges across the country that they never could afford to visit

or even talk on the phone, but just find out more about what college and maybe major

and career is a good fit for them by networking through these sites

and I think thats a whole really untalked about use of Myspace and Facebook that we

as educators could help students realize and do effectively.