Steve Hargadon, director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking, and founder of www.classroom20.com.
Hargadon developed his social networking site for educators as a way to get educators used to the idea of social networking not always as a scary, educationally empty phenomenon.
"We have to look at the tools and the devices behind popular technologies. Just because bad things sometimes happen on Facebook doesn't mean the technology itself can't be useful. It just depends how it's used," he said.
Hargadon says that for educators, profile pages can be portfolios and background information for others to see. The "friends" you are making are really "colleagues," he said--and uploading content and adding commentary provides authentic feedback to your ideas.
"Common interest groups can be turned into group projects, and the discussion forums allow for asking questions and getting engaged in meaningful conversation. The wisdom of the group will always help when trying to solve problems," he said.