One such person I found was Ira Socol in his Eduptopia post on this matter. I found Socol's perspective to be interesting but not really where I would sit in the opinion camp. Socol's hesitation with celebrating a (soon-to be) new social media leader has largely to do with his concern for the groupings, Google+ calls "circles", Socol believes these could lead to greater segregation and elitism when he writes,
"Social networking sites like Google+ present powerful classroom opportunities, but they are also designed to create hierarchies... The power to "friend" and "unfriend," to draw groups which include and exclude, is a difficult thing to resist, online or off, for people who have very little power over any other part of their lives. And so I thought about bullying as I began to use Google+ over the last few weeks. I thought about it every time I dragged a name into one circle or another, or chose not to do that at all. I thought about it when I left a trail of who I'd been "hanging out" with."
While I share Socol's concern regarding the potentially harmful use of social networking, I am again newly motivated to guide and equip young people in skills of critical thinking instead of condemning new media. Google+ will boom or bust based on an incredible number of factors, very few of which are related to being nice or inclusive to all. This argument against social networks could also be made against books, they don't necessarily promote unity or understanding unless the author instills such messages.
While Socol does not condemn Google+ entirely based on the concept of grouping friends by circles, it seems to be the sticking point. He writes, "Circles have no sides, except inside and outside. And the students in your classrooms will be on one side or the other." I appreciate the poetic device here, but must contend that life does not have sides either. I think that human being DO in fact live in circles and Google+'s articulation of this is an opportunity for critical discussion and learning. In my media literacy course, we openly discuss the differences between the criteria used in choosing "friends" and "Facebook friends". I've enjoyed the puzzlement on students faces as they attempt to articulate their criteria, and the friendly debates that take place between students (friends or not).
I welcome the "new" circles component of Google+ as it simply asks people of all ages to reflect, choose, and practice different levels of relationship as opposed to "friend" or not. I think this can be a healthy, thoughtful action that students can learn, adopt, and apply to other spheres of life. Opps, I got 3 dimensional there.
Google+'s circles, much like any other media tool, need not be necessarily exclusive or bad. Circles can combine, overlap, and compliment one another to create a much richer realistic picture of life.
"Christmas Bokeh 2" image by "no3rdw" http://www.flickr.com/photos/no3rdw/3131851573/
