Embracing a Culture of Connectivity by Danah Boyd

This video of Danah Boyd's lecture talks about how young people use social media.  I thought that it was interesting how their social media world serves as a microcosm or macrocosm depending on social media importance to them for their real social life.  Young people felt that you were expected to be a part of a social network and that if you weren't then you were not a part of the social scene.  The way that they present their social site is a way of showing people who they are and what they care about.  This is conveyed through the images that they post, their conversations, and the friends that they have.  But in some instances the pubic face that they put on is a show in order to fit it. But this can happen in any young persons life whether or not they are on a social network.  Social networks have also changed the way in which young adults view the idea of privacy.  They seem to think that by posting something in public on a social networking site that it somehow will still remain private.  This is where their need to have the ability to choose what they want public and what should remain private needs to come into play.  

She also talks about using Social Networks in the education system.  She says that we shouldn't expect students to be capable of doing something on Social Media that we are not willing or able to do ourselves.  As teachers we need to determine where the lines between personal and professional relationships with our students are within social networks and where they are blurred.

I found the information within this video to be very useful because it will help me to tailor my libraries social media aspects to my students by better understanding where they are coming from as social media users.