1. SOCIAL NETWORKING WITH WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
Chintha DammiKaluarachchi
MIT/2008/026

2. SOCIAL NETWORKING WITH WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
ABSTRACT
In this article have highlighted the web 2.0 components and how these components merge with
the social networks and pattern and behavior of different social networks. I have also indicated
how behavior of individuals and their network can be extracted and analyzed by studying
different social networks. Online social networking has deeply penetrated universities
influencing various aspects of student life. Have investigate the impacts of individual online
social networking engagement (e.g. on Facebook) from a pedagogical standpoint. As well as
have described impact of these social networks with web 2.0 technologies to the effectiveness of
learning and teaching. Some components of web 2.0 such as blogging, wikis have greatly
influence on learning and these factors also have discussed in the review. In the end of this
article have highlight the social networking with Web 2.0 how enhanced learning and teaching
capabilities as well as social life by improving the efficiency of social collaboration.
INTRODUCTION
The Main Purpose of Web 2.0 is to connect people in various new ways and utilize their
collective strengths. The authority of Web 2.0 is the creation of new relationships between
collaborators and information. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of
many web-based communities and hosted services, including weblogs (blogs), wikis, podcasts,
Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and social networking sites (O'Reilly, 2005). Web 2.0 users
not only create their own content; they also mix, amend, and recombine content. Web 2.0 users
are also relatively more “open to the world,” welcoming comments and revisions (McLaughlin &
Lee, 2007). Boyd (2007) claims that the social aspects of Web 2.0 have great potential for
enhancing education, while Klamma and colleagues (2007) suggest that Web 2.0 concepts and
technologies could support lifelong learning communities. Barlow (2008) argues that Web 2.0
tools also offer an exciting opportunity to create a classroom without walls because they enable
learning take place wherever and whenever possible.
The components of Web 2.0 help to create and maintain Social Networks as we will see in
details in the forthcoming sections. Blogging is the art of social conversation and have replaced
personal home pages and this helps for a more consolidated flow of judgments and ideas. Wikis
have enabled collaborative involvement and authoring among spread teams. Tagging or
folksonomy is a collaborative means of identifying information widgets to increase the power of
any web site and search necessary information in a faster way. Combined with other such
concepts, Web 2.0 provides an ideal platform for implementing and helping Social Networks to
grow.
The beauty of Web 2.0 fitment to Social Networks is that all the components of Web 2.0 are built
for the growth and sustenance of Social Networks. As discussed in "Building Smart
Communities with IBM Social Collaboration Tool Suite" (developer Works, May 2009), the
major concepts that have been considered in Web 2.0 are:

3.  Communities: Communities are an online space formed by a group of individuals to
share their thoughts, ideas and have a variety of tools to promote Social Networking.
There are a number of tools available online now a day to create communities which are
very cost efficient as well as easy to use.
 Blogging: Blogs give the users of a Social Network the freedom to express their thoughts
in a free form basis and help in generation and discussion of topics.
 Wikis: A Wiki is a set of co-related pages on a particular subject and allow users to share
content. Wikis replace the difficult document management systems and are very easy to
create and maintain.
 Folksonomy: Web 2.0 being a people-centric technology has introduced the feature of
Folksonomy where users can tag their content online and this enables others to easily find
and view other content.
 File sharing/Podcasting: This is the facility which helps users to send their media files
and related content online for other people of the network to see and contribute more on.
 Mash-ups: This is the facility via which people on the internet can gather together
services from multiple vendors to create a totally new service. An example may be
combining the location information from a mobile service provider and the map facility
of Google maps in order to find the exact information of a cell phone device from the
internet, just by entering the cell number.
As we see from the above components of Web 2.0, each of them contribute to help the
implementation and continued existence of social Networks on a meaningful basis. While
wikis and communities help to create an online space for the networks, blogging, folksonomy
and file sharing help to information flow across the virtual world of the social networking
community.
Reference [01]

4. A new mode of social networking such as online social networking has emerged and become
popular with the inception of Web 2.0 technology. People are increasingly tending to develop
their virtual social relationships and virtual life on existing common social networking websites
such as Facebook, Xanga and MySpace. These websites provide favorable platforms for
individuals to communicate themselves. More significantly, by using social networking
technologies, individuals can establish new relationships with associates, as well as maintain
close relationships with friends, colleagues, and family members. The active engagement in
these websites to establish virtual relationships provides individuals with access to a diversified
set of information from multiple sources (Wasko & Faraj, 2005)
SOCIAL NETWORKING WITH WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND LEARNING AND TEACHING OUTCOMES
The latest Web 2.0 technology has enabled universities and corporations to reach out and educate
students across time and space barriers. What is more these web 2.0 technology has provided
new opportunities to develop Web-based collaborative learning systems involved learners to
participate in collaborative learning context to learn from their collaborators (Barak, Herscoviz,
Kaberman, & Dori, 2009; Jones, Blackey, Fitzgibbon, & Chew, 2010). Nearly, collaborative
learning is a social interaction that involving a group of people of learners and instructors, where
members obtain and share experience or knowledge. Based on social constructivism, learners
would learn more through the process of sharing experiences, discussion to build their
knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978). From the social e-cultural activity theory, the latest Web 2.0
technology can play a role as mediator for enriching technical courses with learning teams
(Nardi, 1996). Actually in Web 2.0-based systems, cross-platform environments and
synchronous or/and asynchronous are all proper functions that provide learners with more
equivalent opportunities for sharing information, retrieving information, and active interaction
with other learners and instructors (Barak et al., 2009).
Definitions of social networks in research literature shows that although some studies focused on
communication and collaboration, some others focused on structural characteristics of these tools
such as the profiles, uploading photographs, comments, writing on walls, and friends' lists. For
example, Bartlett-Bragg (2006) defined social networks as a “range of applications that
augments group interactions and shared spaces for collaboration, social connections, and
aggregates information exchanges in a web-based environment.” Similarly, Boyd and Ellison
(2007) defined social networks as web-based services allowing individuals to 1) construct a
public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, 2) articulate a list of other users with
whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made
by others within the system. Ease of use, allowing for rapid updating, analyzing and sharing
continuously increasing information stemming from our daily life, establishing spontaneous
relationships, supporting informal learning practices by means of interaction and communication,
and facilitating delivery of education are explained as the reasons why social networks such as
Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Youtube, and Flickr are adopted and accepted rapidly although
they had originally emerged for sharing photos, personal information, videos, profiles and
content (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008; Mejias, 2005). There are hundreds of social networks with
various technological applications serving to a wide range of interests most of which support the
maintenance of pre-existing social relations, however, many others help strangers to connect to

5. others' profiles with shared interests, needs, political views etc. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Social
networks include various people both as authors as well as readers, nonetheless personalized
content, information sharing and collaboration are the socializing dimensions of these tools
(Bartlett-Bragg, 2006). As Lenhart and Madden (2007) postulate, 55% of teenagers use social
networks in their daily lives most of whose purposes are limited to communicating with friends,
making new friends and sharing personal information and materials. On the other hand, beside
this socializing entity, social networks are suggested to help users re-situate learning in an open-
ended social context by providing opportunities for moving beyond the mere access to the
content (learning about) to the social application of knowledge in a constant process of re-
orientation(learning as becoming) (Mejias, 2005). Social networks, consisting mostly young
people as users, are highly informal environments which play an important role in continuing the
interaction outside the classroom. While it is expected that social networks will increase
interaction related to formal educational purposes, young people also use these applications to
continue their informal education such as by following and commenting on academic and social
issues, dilemmas and disappointments faced while pursuing university education (Selwyn,
2007a). therefore, using social networks in an academic context is attractive for these young
users, will be given a chance to acquire new knowledge through subliminal, effective and smooth
learning processes while taking part in enjoyable interactive situations mediated through
interesting and motivating tools and content (Gillet, El Helou, Yu, & Salzmann, 2008). Social
network research suggests that a network with diverse members greatly facilitates access to
useful information, as such diversity enables individuals to tap multiple pockets of information
and knowledge (Burt, 2001; Coleman, 1990), thereby providing more comprehensive views for
individuals to understand comprehensive environments. As Morrison (1993) observes, a large
range of network with broader information is beneficial for individuals’ learning about an
environment’s attributes (e.g., norms, policies and culture). As Walsh et al. (1998) assert,
“Forming mutual and meaningful connections with others, individuals gain a greater sense of
energy, purpose, vision and ultimate self-understanding.” Affectively, peers can provide
emotional and psychological support that facilitates individual learning and academic
satisfaction. Sanchez et al.’s (2006) 4-year long study demonstrates that college students with
peer mentoring and support are more satisfied with their university life. What are more
Individuals who are socially accepted by peers may achieve higher performance proficiency
because the relationships they form with peers are social capital that potentially facilitates their
skill development and performance enhancement (Bauer et al., 2007; Bauer & Green, 1994).
From an educational perspective, online social networking is also a learning practice for
university students, since the learning environment of the university itself are a social system of
individuals’ interacting within a shared academic context (Hwang, Kessler, & Francesco,2004).
We observe that online social networking has been deeply embedded in the lifestyle of young
people, especially since university students engage a large quantity of the total population of
online social networking websites (Madge, Meek, Wellens, & Hooley, 2009;Subrahmanyam,
Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008). Recent research conducted in a Northern Taiwan research
university shows that, in a web-based learning, undergraduates with certain self-regulation
capacity intend to interact with their peers to get feedback and thus improve their performance
(Wang & Wu, 2008). Further, students can develop commitment to their university and begin to
better articulate their role as well as engage in peer-supported communities on aspects of
academic life (Selwyn, 2009).

6. On the other hand, the pedagogical impacts on university students of the social networking in
general and the emerging online social networking behavior in particular have obtained scant
attention in the literature. Most prior studies have investigated the values of personal social
networks in the business world, e.g., facilitating individuals to achieve higher mobility, better job
performance and other career-related success (Podolny & Baron, 1997; Seibert, Kraimer, &
Liden, 2001). Although several studies have investigated the social network relationships in
computer-supported collaborative learning (Cho, Gay, Davidson, & Ingraffea, 2007; Kreijns,
Kirschner, Wim, & van Buuren, 2007; Ryymin, Palonen, & Hakkarainen, 2008), the network
investigated was forced to a small and controlled group, in which the networking behavior is
largely different from that in modern online social network websites. In put into practice,
students intend to generate creative activities and learning in the online social networking
context. It has been found that “Net generation” learners have different styles of information
processing and learning expectations, which behooves educational institutions to reconsider
pedagogical approaches (Williams & Chinn, 2009). According to social learning theory
(Bandura, 1977), individuals often self initiate and regulate their learning to achieve desirable
learning outcomes. Through interacting with peers and the situated environment, individuals’
cognition, affection and behavior are influenced.
Recent research illustrates that young people’s online social networking behavior can bring them
physical and psychological well-being (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Steinfield, Ellison, &
Lampe, 2008).
Latest research shows that Facebook has increasing influences on university students’ lives with
usage rates of over 90% per year at most campuses (Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2006;
Stutzman, 2006). This is also confirmed by students I interviewed at my university who noted
that: “Being on Facebook becomes a daily activity and we log on Facebook multiple times per
day”.
Below paragraph describe one of the social networks called “Facebook” and in this study, the
Facebook is handled among other social networks. These social networks started with
Six.Degrees.com in 1997 followed by other social networks sites such as Livejournal, Friendster,
LinkedIn, MySpace, Last.fm, Flickr, YouTube, and finally Facebook launched, attracting great
numbers of registered users in a short span of time (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).. Facebook is defined
as “a social utility that helps people share information and communicate more efficiently with
their friends, family and coworkers” (facebook.com). Despite the fact that Facebook was
launched in 2004 as a Harvard-only Social Network site, it expanded to include other high school
students, professionals inside corporate networks, and eventually everyone who have access to
the online world (Cassidy, 2006). Facebook provides a personal profile to the user as allowing
for communication, information sharing, creating a friends list, making photo albums, forming or
applying to social interest groups, and variety of online games. in brief, as members of
Facebook, people cans hare their photos, send messages, chat, tag themselves or others on
photos, write on friends' walls, join groups, create new groups, share ideas in group discussions,
add kinds of applications, and play Facebook games. Facebook accessed by millions of users in a
short period whilst becoming a part of users' daily lives. In the same way, it has paying attention
of researchers in different subjects such as users' patterns of offline and online activities, online
identities, technological capacities of social connections and cultural patterns (Ellison, Steinfield,
& Lampe, 2007; Selwyn, 2007a).
Facebook is being considered as an educational tool because of its beneficial qualities such as
enabling peer feedback, goodness of fit with social context, and interaction tools (Mason, 2006).

7. Because most Facebook users are between 18 and 25 years old, they mostly are university
students (Bumgarner, 2007). Therefore, it can easily be deduced that it can be a useful
educational tool particularly by providing active participation and collaboration.
Facebook is known as a favorable educational tool owing to its structure and a variety of utilities.
On the other hand, how and for which purposes these tools will be used in educational contexts is
still awaiting researchers' interest. In the associated studies it is argued that Facebook and other
social networks facilitate informal learning because of their active role in members' daily lives.
Social network sites support collaborative learning, engage individuals in critical thinking,
enhance communication and writing skills through activating members work in personalized
environments (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008; Lockyer & Patterson, 2008). In addition to these, Lee
and McLoughlin (2008) claim that social networks are pedagogical tools because people can use
them for connectivity and social support, collaborative information discovery and sharing,
content creation and knowledge and information aggregation and modification.
Considering the educational utilities offered by Facebook such as providing members with
intentional or spontaneous learning. Using Facebook users enable Communication, Collaboration
and Material Resource Sharing. Facebook adoption is found to have a significant positive
relationship with usefulness, ease of use, social influence, facilitating conditions and community
identity. Usefulness is determined as the most important feature in predicting the acceptance of
Facebook. This finding is consistent with those of previous research on adoption or acceptance
of an innovation in a system (King& He, 2006; Ngai, Poon, & Chan, 2007; van Raaij &
Schepers, 2008). Therefore, usefulness as perceived by Facebook users can be suggested as one
of the major reasons for the rapid adoption of Facebook and the rapid increase in the number of
its users. Opportunities by bringing people together around shared interests, exchanging
information, sharing ideas, discussing topics, collaborating etc.
Online social networking engagement not only enables students to expand their network scope
by connecting with various relationships, but also allows them to maintain close relationships
with a small group of people. The typical structure of individuals’ online social network, such as
in Facebook, is often in a core-periphery mode: an individual establishes various relationships
with a large group of people while developing closer relationships with core friends through
close communications. Most probably, individuals take advantage of their large series of
relationships and the inline small group of close relationships by engaging in online social
networking.
In educational side, online social networking behavior is related to learning and academic
success by creating systems of information, contacts and support. Even though co-located
interactions (e.g. in the classes) students need other channels to express their feelings easily and
freely, set up specific friendships that may not be realized by offline interactions, and capture
more information. These online social networkings are important to students’ mental health and
performance development. A number of research studies have illustrated that university students
with more engagement in online social networking are more likely to have better health,
affective development and academic success (Morrow, 1999; Steinfield et al., 2008). Treisman’s
(1992) study shows that the time college students spend with their peers is a critical factor in
determining their performance. Huang et al. (2004) also demonstrate that college students’ social
networking with peers and professors can be a vehicle for gaining information and knowledge,
thereby giving them higher performance. The educational practitioners can also believe
appropriately designing educational practices on the social networking sites (e.g. the university

8. orientation practice) allowing students to learn more about the university and promoting their
commitment and satisfaction to the university.
On the other hand Liaw, Chen, and Huang (2008) reported that Web-based collaborative learning
systems allow more opportunities for learners to participate without the limitation on knowledge
levels. In Web-based collaborative learning context, Kagan (1994) pointed out students’ ideas
about collaborative learning and their experience with the use of technology might inhibit or
promote their participation in the collaborative learning process. Moreover, a collaborative task
requires collaborators not only to share information, but also to discuss or determine how to rank
other collaborator work. Dewiyanti, Brand-Gruwel, Jochems, and Broers (2007) also mentioned
that learners are encouraged to exchange ideas, share perspectives, and use previous knowledge
or experience in order to decide on the best solution for the question. Dori and Herscovitz (1999)
suggested that the central role of education should be to develop in learners an appreciation of
posting questions.
Blogs also play a major role in online learning. It’s also a part of the web 2.0 technologies. While
traditional educators may lawfully worry about students limiting their sources of information to
what is available on the web, or worse, equate research with mere information collation thus
indifferent research, educational technology pundits are now keen to brandish the educational
affordances of the latest Web 2.0 tools, amongst which is blogging the “signature item of social
software” (Alexander, 2006). In advocating blogging as a powerful learning tool both for the
individual as well as for organizations, the CEO of Tech Empower Tony Karrer paints an
exciting picture of how bloggers, in their continual search for interesting information, connect in
what would translate as ideal learning scenarios for educators:
They must synthesize the information, formulate additional questions, contrast and make sense
of differing viewpoints, and identify patterns and trends (Karrer, 2007).
From its early days as an online diary or a web-based log (“weblog”) of “links, commentary, and
personal notes” (Blood, 2000), blog has come a long way in becoming “a significant learning
and social networking tool that can help individuals, groups, and organizations learn in new,
interesting ways” (Karrer, 2007).
Perhaps the case against blogging and the Net-Geners themselves has been overstated: the
problem may not be with the tool or means itself, but with how it is being put to use. After all,
there have been encouraging reports of educational successes with blogging noted above.
Still others have reported on how blogging had resulted in students writing more and writing
better (Ramaswami, 2008), some embraced blogging because it enabled “thinking by writing”
(recall Mori, 2007, quoted above), with the possible support from a relevant community (Nardi,
Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz, 2004; recall also the quote from Stewart, 2008, above).
Actually, blogging has even been reported to have enhanced critical thinking and problem-
solving skills (Ocker & Yaverbaum, 2001, cited in Kim, 2008). More relevant to our current
focus, one recent study found blogging to be capable of building a broader range of skills
relevant to academic researched information searching, literature reviewing, and writing skills
such as organizing, paraphrasing, and referencing (Tekinarslan, 2008; see also Embrey,2002).
Peer learning is another reported benefit of blogging. The students indicated that they had learnt
from reading one another’s blogs even though their research topics were different. One of them
wrote that reading “the thought process [her fellow students] went through” helped her in her
own analysis; another appreciated having been “exposed to a range of other aspects of analysis
of 20th C music”. In one previous study, it was found that broader and more varied exposure was
needed to help students better transfer their web-searching skills or generalize from their more

9. limited experiences (Walton & Archer, 2004). Previous research studies have mostly highlighted
the educational affordances of blogs as a reflective, writing and/or collaborative-learning tool;
others have even advocated it as a research tool.
Wikis also considered as one of the many popular Web 2.0 tools that help collaborative work.
With wikis, users do not need to know how to write HTML codes to publish their products on
the Internet with ease (Heafner & Friedman, 2008). The control and history features of wikis are
mostly helpful for users, allowing them to trace the content and timing of the revision.
Richardson (2006) suggests that there are different educational possibilities of using wikis for
learning, especially for language learning. Indeed, several studies have found that wikis can
foster collaborative learning in particular; writing English from primary to university levels (Mak
& Coniam, 2008; Wang, 2010; Wilkoff, 2007). Wikis are also useful for fostering deep
understanding of social studies (Heafner & Friedman, 2008) and helping pre-service teachers
produce high-quality science learning materials (Nicholas & Ng, 2009).
MATRIX OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING AND SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Social
Technologies
(web 2.0)
Online social networking
Content Generating Sharing Interacting Collaboratively
Socializing
Blogs (Sandars &
Schroter,2007)
(Hargadon, 2008)
(Churchill, 2009)
(Murray, 2008)
(Churchill,
2009)
Wikis (Ras & Rech, 2009)
(Sandars &
Schroter,2007)
(Hargadon, 2008)
(Kane & Fichman,
2009)
(Murray, 2008)
(Kane &
Fichman,
2009)
(Ras & Rech,
2009)
(Kane & Fichman,
2009)
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Ras & Rech, 2009)
(Rhoades, Friedel, &
Morgan, 2009)
Photo
sharing
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Hargadon, 2008)
Video
sharing
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Hargadon, 2008)
(Mason &
Rennie,
2008)
Podcasting (Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Minocha & Thomas,
2007) (Hargadon,
2008)
(Sandars &
Schroter,
2007)

10. Social
bookmarki
ng
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Eysenbach,
2008)
(Churchill,
2009)
Online
discussion
board
(Hemmi, Bayne, &
Landt,
2009)
(Wuensch, Aziz,Ozan,
Kishore,&Tabrizi,2009)
Instant
messaging
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Mason&Rennie,2008)
Social
networking
sites
(Murray, 2008)
(Virkus, 2008)
(Sandars & Schroter,
2007)
(Hargadon, 2008)
(Murray,
2008)
(Oradini &
Saunders,
2008)
(Murray, 2008)
(Minocha,
2009)
(Murray, 2008)
(Supe, 2008)
(Oradini & Saunders,
2008)
Reference [02]
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research could investigate the reciprocity among social networking, socialization and
learning outcomes, data security and privacy of such public domains and could adopt an
anthropological approach to observe individuals online social networking behavior in a nonstop
time series. It would help to understand the vitality of the individuals’ online social networking
behavior.
CONCLUSION
The latest Web 2.0 technology has enabled universities and corporations to reach out and educate
students across time and space barriers. The latest Web 2.0 technology has provided new
opportunities to develop Web-based collaborative learning systems involved learners to
participate in collaborative learning context to learn from their collaborators (Barak, Herscoviz,
Kaberman, & Dori, 2009; Jones, Blackey, Fitzgibbon, & Chew, 2010). In this review I also
agreed with these research studies. Most of the Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development
and evolution of many web-based communities and hosted services, including weblogs (blogs),
wikis, podcasts, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and social networking sites. Online social
networking has extremely penetrated our social life. All the way through the continuous
improvement of web technologies, people are more and more influenced by the virtual world.
My study investigating the learning impacts of online social networking and other related web
2.0 technologies on students demonstrates the critical role that such an up-and-coming creative
networking approach plays in education. Online social networking facilitates most of the
students to develop satisfying relationships with peers, sharing information, effective
communication and more. Recent research illustrates that young people’s online social
networking behavior can bring them physical and psychological well-being (Ellison, Steinfield,
& Lampe, 2007; Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008). Actually as the above research shown, in

11. the end, online social networking can improve students’ psychological well-being and skill
development. These are not only desired for the individual learners but also expected by
educational institutions. My study implies that it is proper to make use of online networking
sites, such as Facebook, to design some learning activities, e.g., orientation practices, to increase
interactivity among individual students and build a sound background for socialization. These
practices will help fulfill students’ ever growing networking needs and, therefore, improve their
social learning effectiveness. The study indicated that Web 2.0 environments can do more than
promote learning (Boyd, 2007; Richardson, 2006). The flexible features of Web 2.0 enable
student teachers to apply with ease their subject knowledge and education background to their
designs of digital learning, teaching, and assessment materials. Certainly, the communications
within groups, between groups, and with the tutors motivated the students to dedicate extra effort
to their wiki project. Liaw, Chen, and Huang (2008) reported that Web-based collaborative
learning systems allow more opportunities for learners to participate without the limitation on
knowledge levels. As they reported, throughout this review many experts have suggested that
Web-based collaborative learning systems allow more opportunities for learners with the
unlimited knowledge levels.
Blogs also play an important role in learning and research studies. Blog has come a long way in
becoming “a significant learning and social networking tool that can help individuals, groups,
and organizations learn in new, interesting ways” (Karrer, 2007). As they consider most of the
learners could gain many more advantages using these blogs to their learning and research
studies. Wikis also considered as one of the many popular Web 2.0 tools that help collaborative
work. With wikis, users do not need to know how to write HTML codes to publish their products
on the Internet with ease (Heafner & Friedman, 2008). The ability to control history features of
wikis are mostly helpful for users, it allow users to outline the content and timing of the revision.
Wikis are also useful to have deep understanding of social studies and helping teachers produce
high-quality science learning materials. This suggests that the effectiveness of learning and
teaching is greatly influenced by a Web 2.0 environment and active participation. People are
coming much closer to another and all social and geographical boundaries are being reduced at
lightning speed which is one of the biggest sustenance factors for any social network. Using Web
2.0 also increases the social collaboration to a very high degree and this in turn helps in
achieving the goals for a social network.
REFERENCES
Reference [01]
Dasgupta, D. & Dasgupta, R. (2009). Components of Web 2.0 for social networks. Social
Networks using Web 2.0, 23 Nov 2009
Reference [02]
Hamid, S. & Chang, S. & Kurnia, S. (2009). Identifying the use of online social networking in
higher education. Proceedings ascilite Auckland 2009, 419-420.

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Addison, Y.S. S. & Stephen, J.H.Y. & Hwang, W.Y. & Zhang, J. (2010). A web 2.0-based
collaborative annotation system for enhancing knowledge sharing in collaborative learning
environments. Computers & Education ,55 (2010) ,752-766 .Retrieved from
www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Eddy, K.M.C .(2010). Using blogging to enhance the initiation of students into academic
research. Computers & Education ,55 (2010) ,797-807 .Retrieved from
www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Lai, Y.C. & Ng, E.M.W. (2010).Using wikis to develop student teachers’ learning, teaching, and
assessment capabilities, The Internet and Higher Education (2010),
doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.06.001
Liu,X.& Liu,H. & Bao,Z. & Ju,B. Wang, Z.. (2010). A web-based self-testing system with some
features of Web 2.0: Design and primary implementation. Computers & Education ,55 (2010)
,265-275 .Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Sacide, G. M. & Yasemin, K.U. (2010). Modeling educational usage of Facebook. Computers &
Education ,55 (2010) ,444-452 .Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Yan Yu, A. & Tian, S.W. & Vogel, D. & Chi-Wai Kwok, R. (2010).Can learning be virtually
boosted? An investigation of online social networking impacts, Computers & Education, 55
(2010), doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.06.015