CREATING
&
CONNECTING
//Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — NetworkingNATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
CONTENTS
Online social networkingis now so deeply embedded in thelifestyles oftweens and teens thatit rivals television for their atten-tion,according to a new study from Grunwald Associates LLCconducted in cooperation withthe National School BoardsAssociation.Nine- to 17-year-olds reportspending almost as much timeusing social networking servicesand Web sites as they spendwatching television.Among teens,that amounts to about 9 hours aweek on social networking activi-ties,compared to about 10 hoursa week watching TV.Students are hardly passivecouch potatoes online.Beyondbasic communications,many stu-dents engage in highly creativeactivities on social networkingsites — and a sizeable proportionofthem are adventurous noncon-formists who set the pace for theirpeers.Overall,an astonishing 96 per-cent ofstudents with online accessreport that they have ever usedany social networking technolo-gies,such as chatting,text messag-
July 2007
Creating & Connecting//The Positives. . . . . . . . Page 1Creating & Connecting//The Gaps. . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4Creating & Connecting//Expectationsand Interests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7Striking a Balance//Guidance and Recommendationsfor School Board Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8
About the Study
This study was made possible with generous supportfrom Microsoft,News Corporation and Verizon.The study was comprised ofthree surveys:anonline survey of1,277 nine- to 17-year-old students,an online survey of1,039 parents and telephone inter-views with 250 school district leaders who make deci-sions on Internet policy.Grunwald Associates LLC,anindependent research and consulting firm that hasconducted highly respected surveys on educator andfamily technology use since 1995,formulated anddirected the study.Hypothesis Group managed thefield research.Tom de Boor and Li Kramer Halpern of Grunwald Associates LLC provided guidance through-out the study and led the analysis.A more detailed market research report based onthis survey,including findings ofinterest to industry,is available commercially from Grunwald Associates(www.grunwald.com).
The study was carried out with support from Microsoft,News Corporation, and Verizon. The views of the study do not necessarily represent the views
of the underwriters.
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59%
Percentage of online students who say they talk about any education-related topics,including college or college planning;learning outside ofschool;news; careers or jobs; politics,ideas,religion or morals; andschoolwork
50%
Percentage of online students who say they talk specifically about schoolwork
ing,blogging and visiting onlinecommunities,such as Facebook,MySpace and services designedspecifically for younger children,such as Webkins and the chat sec-tions ofNick.com.Eighty-onepercent say they have visited asocial networking Web site withinthe past three months and 71 per-cent say they use social network-ing tools at least weekly.Further,students report thatone ofthe most common topicsofconversation on the socialnetworking scene is education.Almost 60 percent ofstudentswho use social networking talkabout education topics online and,surprisingly,more than 50 percenttalk specifically about schoolwork.Yet the vast majority ofschooldistricts have stringent rulesagainst nearly all forms ofsocialnetworking during the school day —even though students and par-ents report few problem behaviorsonline.Indeed,both district lead-ers and parents believe that socialnetworking could play a positiverole in students’lives and they recognize opportunities for usingit in education — at a time whenteachers now routinely assignhomework that requires Internetuse to complete.In light ofthestudy findings,school districtsmay want to consider reexamin-ing their policies and practicesand explore ways in which they could use social networking foreducational purposes.
Creating &Connecting//The Positives
There has been explosive growthin creative and authoring activi-ties by students on social net- working sites in recent years.
With words,music,photos andvideos,students are expressingthemselves by creating,manipu-lating and sharing content online.This is how they’re spending time:
Posting messages.
More than onein five online students (21 per-cent) say they post comments onmessage boards every day;fourout of10 (41 percent) say they do so at least once a week.In2002,only 7 percent posted daily and only 17 percent did so atleast once a week,according to asimilar Grunwald Associates LLCsurvey.
59%50%
Source: Grunwald Associates LLC
A Hot Topic ofSocial Networking: Education
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