Web 2.0 for schools: learning and social participation

media will be left feeling short-changed and disappointed. The educational research community certainly requires ‘a serious ethnographic exploration’ of students and social media but unfortunately this is not it. At best Aleman and Wartman provide a lamentably quick flick through Facebook as opposed to the in-depth reading that the topic merits. As such the book’s eventual conclusions are largely underwhelming. At one point, the reader is told, ‘on Facebook, college student identity is distinctly Postmodern’ (p. 89). Soon after the revelation is offered that students’ use of Facebook to represent themselves may alter with context i.e. that ‘students shift between multiple selves and experiment with different identities, revealing alternate faces to their audiences’ (p. 89). On the basis of these observations a series of mundane recommendations are then made. For example, it is suggested that Facebook-savvy administrators should train sports’ team captains, orientation leaders and other ‘student leaders’ to cascade appropriate use of Facebook down to their fellow students. As high-profile ‘public figures on and off campus’ the book suggests that student athletes may require special training with regards to Facebook ‘impression management’ (p. 97). In this vein the last two chapters dodge many of the more interesting sociological questions that could have been pursued, and hone in on prosaic institutionally focussed issues such as: ‘do administrators belong on Facebook?’ (p. 90). ‘Online social networking on campus’ certainly suffers from its attempts to be both a research monograph and a practical ‘how-to’ book for university administrators. Moreover, many readers will find the book frustratingly US-centric in its portrayal of the university student experience. US college campuses may well be ‘hotbeds of identity politics’, ‘Greek life’ and varsity athletics, yet these characteristics will have little resonance for readers familiar with less collegial higher education systems outside of North America. As such, ‘Online social networking on campus’ will be of interest mainly to administrators at US colleges who are unfamiliar with social networking and social media in general. Most other readers be they educators based outside of North America, academic researchers or even university students themselves will find this book to be of limited value.