Social+Networks

[| Safe Online Communities for Kids] Lesson plans from an elementary teacher using safe social networking sites.

Excellent list of Social Networks in Education!

[|Elgg] A social networking platform dedicated to education. "Described by its founders as a 'learning landscape', Elgg provides each user with their own weblog, file repository (with podcasting capabilities), an online profile and an RSS reader. Additionally, all of a user's content can be tagged with keywords - so they can connect with other users with similar interests and create their own personal learning network. However, where Elgg differs from a regular weblog or a commercial social network (such as MySpace) is the degree of control each user is given over who can access their content. Each profile item, blog post, or uploaded file can be assigned its own access restrictions - from fully public, to only readable by a particular group or individual. Click here for an insightful interview with Elgg's founders." From Read/Write Web

//[|Creating & Connecting//Research and Guidelines on Online Social--and Educational--Networking]// Study from the National School Boards Association

[|Dandelife] A social biography network

[|Drupal]An open source content management platform.

[|Ning] Create your own social network for anything.
 * [|Ning in Education]

[|Twittervision] A real-time geographic visualization of posts to Twitter. What is [|Twitter]? It is a mobile social network. Folks around the world type in no more than 140 characters about what is happening in their world--from "what are you doing right now" to news headlines. Some believe Twittering will take over MySpace and Facebook. Check out [|Twitter Fan Wiki]. Read [|Barack Obama's] Twitter posts. Journalists embrace Twitter at [|Reportwitter]. "The brainchild of a Dutch freelance journalist, reportwitter.com aims to "unpack" the process of constructing and creating a story by providing a platform for members to display recent articles alongside "tweets" - short, pithy, public messages of 140 characters or less - that are the lifeblood of the Twitter community." From [|Journalism.co.uk]
 * ALSO SEE**

[|Yoople] Collaborative searching. "At Yoople! Project we believe that Web Searches are quite good, but not as smart as a human brain could do. As today we are forced to accept the order given by search engines and click the results as they are, unfortunately this does not mean the human searcher agrees with the returned results index. Moreover clicking a result does not mean the website contains the contents we were looking for. Starting from these thoughts we have started to think about a new way to interact with web searches and a new project, codename Yoople!, has born with the aim to give a human touch to the typical user experience with search engine indexing."

[|Yugma]

[Check out Yugma's use with Skype. Skype revolutionized real-time communication online. Now, Yugma revolutionizes real-time collaboration by enabling quick and instant sharing of ideas by letting you conduct virtual meetings or share desktops spontaneously. Yugma works across platforms - working seamlessly between Windows, Mac and Linux, and is easy to use. Yugma lets you connect with up to 10 other people for free. You can upgrade any time to host meetings with up to 500 other people.}

"Yugma is a free web collaboration service that enables people to instantly connect over the internet to communicate and share content and ideas using any application or software. Whether you are using Windows, Mac or Linux computer, you can connect on-demand and real-time with co-workers, clients, friends and family -- regardless of whether they are across the city, nation or even the globe. Popular uses include hosting study groups or tutoring sessions, hosting virtual clubs or social events, presenting proposals or creative work, product demonstrations, conducting training, customer service, team reviews, remote support and troubleshooting, and collaboration by artists, writers, and design professionals. Yugma is reliable and secure; adapting to organizational security models like AD or LDAP. The name Yugma is a word from the Sanskrit language meaning "the state of being in unified collaboration." Yugma, Inc. is a privately held venture-backed company headquartered in Minnesota, USA and has offices in Minneapolis and India."

[| Zoho]