Anti-Social Networking: communication and wellbeing in cyberspace

Schools with a culture that supports wellbeing usually have good, open and free communication amongst their staff.

At the same time, many if not most schools ban Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, chat and even YouTube, all of which are about open and free communication. Does this make sense?

One thing is clear: in the internet age bans don't work. Just look up Trafigura or wikileaks on your favourite search engine. When organisations call for sites such as RateMyTeacher to be banned, it is a sure sign that they just don't get it. The world has changed, the horse has bolted, the ship has sailed, the blog has been posted, the tweet tweeted.

Most schools have a website which when managed effectively can represent a real opportunity to show the school engaging with all of those people outside of its gates who are interested in some way in what goes on. Increasing numbers of schools even have VLEs or portals. Yet there are comparatively small numbers of schools on Facebook or Twitter.

Does this matter? We think it does.

The same justifications for banning or ignoring the social web often come up:

• It is dangerous or irrelevant to schools
• It is distracting
• It is a gimmick or a passing fad
• We need to keep control of what's said about us
• It's all just gossip.

With the exception of the point about gimmickry (and surely no-one now sees the internet as a passing fad?), all of these points can be made about informal communication of any type, including lots of the chatter that goes on in staff rooms up and down the country every day!

The intelligent approach is to learn about how communication works and engage with it. You cannot control the messages, but you can manage them. Lurk for a while on Facebook or Twitter and see how it works. You'll soon find ways opening up to you of how you can use it to your school's advantage.

There will still be a place for guidance on the best way to use these services. For example, you might want to look at your governing body's rules and make sure that they cover postings on social networking sites. It is also probably a good idea that staff do not follow or friend pupils. However, we know that many colleagues find linking with ex-pupils on Facebook rewarding and even useful as they go off into the world.

We are still learning about how these new communication methods will work in the long term. However, much of what seems to be happening is positive. One esoteric but relatively timely example is the community of people who grow pumpkins for competition. This used to be a very private, intensely competitive world. However, with the growth of information sharing on the internet, the growers are friendlier - they share hints and tips with rivals, more people are interested and the growth in the pumpkins themselves has been huge!

Surely understanding the world in which everyone lives, works and plays is essential to a successful school. You don't have to engage if you don't want to, but you should try to understand. You may not agree with all that you hear about your school but at least you'll be listening - which is the first step to effective communication.

And if you do want to get involved, why not follow us on Twitter, look us up on Facebook or even just bookmark our Netvibes page?

And if you'd like to see a collection of Social Learning Tools for the Classroom, check out learning guru Jane Hart's website for a great list.

Go on - give it a go.