Social networks are created by groups of individuals who are looking to meet other people and to share information and experiences about any topic of interest, for example, teaching high school science.
Social networking groups in my content area include PBS Teachers – Learning.now, Classroom 2.0, Ning in Education, EduBloggerWorld, just to name a few.
One of the criteria I would use is relevance to my purpose, which would be to gain information in my content area, high school science. I would choose a social networking group whose members are interested in sharing information and ideas about science. Since I teach Chemistry and Biology, I would like to belong to a group specifically geared to those subject areas.
Another criterion I would look for in making a selection would be how well-connected the social network group is. I would like to join a group wherein I could gain access to some free resources that are available to high school science teachers because of sponsors/groups (such as ISTE and FEA) that the group might have.
