Generation M (the mobile, multimedia, multitasking generation, born post 1982) is in the workplace. They don’t have to imagine any of this. It is how they live their lives. And if we want access to their talent, we need to change.

Which is where the enterprise needs to look a bit like Facebook. Responsible for identifying, authenticating and permissioning people, making sure that appropriate controls are in place from a privacy and confidentiality perspective. Responsible for providing an environment, a platform, for people to congregate electronically. A marketplace, a bazaar. A place where people converse with each other, share their interests, identify inventories, discover prices, negotiate, trade. A place where the things that need to be recorded get recorded, as in everyday life. Cash withdrawals, credit card usage, access to secure premises, and so on. A place where the things that need to be shared are made simply shareable, without the nonsense of bad DRM.

Source: here

The extent of Facebook's reach in Australia – it accounts for 29 per cent of all time spent online by Australians – has led to research group Nielsen defining the trend as "Facebook Time" and "Non Facebook Time".

"It's just phenomenal," said Nielsen Online's director of analytics, Mark Higginson. "Every time I run those numbers I have to double check. Australians are spending nearly a third of all their time browsing the internet on Facebook alone."

Source: here

Officials at Toronto's Ryerson University … have sent a notice of expulsion to first-year computer engineering student Chris Avenir after a professor came across a Facebook group called Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solutions where students were encouraged to exchange tips and answers for an online testing system.

The group had 147 members from Ryerson's first-year chemistry and computer engineering programs before it was shut down recently.

Avenir, 18, is now facing 146 charges of academic misconduct under the university's policy. Avenir was listed as an administrator of the group.

Source: here

Some teachers stay away from Facebook altogether, while others — like some of my friends — have found creative workarounds such as only accepting friend requests from students who've graduated or those who are over the age of 18. However, it doesn't have to be that difficult. In fact, it is useful and rewarding to connect with your students on Facebook. So, in honor of all the people who are heading back to school this month, here are some tips for using Facebook.

Source: here

A comment on Rodney’s blog – from Michael – made me think:

“those of us interested in growing on-line communities the message seems to be that setting up special interest groups is going to be less effective than developing a useful application”

If there are 3 types of communities – one of them the type that grows from shared activities, one from shared space and one from shared interest – then maybe Facebook is doing 1 and 2 and blogs are doing 3? Oversimple probably.

Facebook reminds me of that. Mouse clicks not emotions.