Reform. Elementary. Southaustralia. Policy Priorities:Can Social Media and School Policies be "Friends"? Winter 2011 | Volume 17 | Number 4 Can Social Media and School Policies be "Friends"?
Between 2004 and 2009, the amount of time that kids ages 2 to 11 spent online increased by 63 percent, according to a Nielsen study. Driving these trends is increasing mobile access, which research from International Data Corp. predicts will eclipse wired access to the Internet by 2015. "There's no reason schools shouldn't compete with other social media sites for part of this time," Karl Meinhardt, director of social media for the Idaho Technology Council, told the social media news blog Mashable.
Many schools are realizing the "horse is out of the barn," in terms of social networking and kids, Freehold Regional High School District Superintendent Charles Sampson told the Asbury Park Press. "To try to pretend otherwise would be foolish on our part," he said. Facebook Goes ‘Back to School’: Top Facebook Pages for Education Industry.