Lessons learned.  Engaging in social networking can be a tremendous
asset for your program, but one of its greatest selling points perhaps
is that even if it doesn't work for you, it is free and relatively
fool-proof, so you have little to lose.  That being said, here are some
lessons that we've learned along the way:

*	Set up the comments section so that an administrator must
approve or deny what is posted;
*	Verify how each individual is connected to your organization; do
not accept friend requests from people who are not connected to your
organization in some way (for us, out of state folks are a dead
give-away).  Many people on MySpace or other sites request to be friends
with people they don't know as a way to get their number of friends up.

*	Each profile includes employment information and student's state
and city of residence.  If your student updates their profile regularly,
reading this information can be a way to track them if they leave your
program unexpectedly;
*	When your "friends" are on-line a little signal pops up to
indicate they are.  We sometimes use this tool to see who is on-line
instead of doing their work in class (we teach computer classes).  We
also use this tool to see who skipped classes but is at home playing on
the internet; and
*	Get email address and MySpace information from students on the
first day of class. Make it part of your regular intake process. Be sure
to verify the information and request to be "friends" with them to get
the connection started.

 

I hope this case study has been helpful to those of you who are
interested in using social networking technologies to advance your own
organization's goals.  I will be available to answer questions through
the end of the day tomorrow.  I look forward to hearing more from you
about your experiences with social networking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________

Emily May

Special Projects Coordinator

Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow

783 4th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11232

718-369-0303

emay at obtjobs.org <mailto:emay at obtjobs.org> 

 

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