Yet, while popularity is powerful, it is also fleeting. On an individual level, as shown in Neistat's video, if someone gains a huge following on Snapchat, they can have a huge influence on a group of people. Jerome Jarre, one of the individuals interviewed by Neistat in the video, gained over a million followers in two weeks and convinced hundreds in a single "snap" to drop everything they were doing to meet him in Union Square to create a Snapchat story. However, since this was published over a year ago (in 2014), I have yet to hear anymore of Jerome Jarre. Additionally, as the title suggests, Snapchat murders Facebook, there will inevitably be another social media phenomenon to destroy Snapchat.
There is another inevitability: where there are teenagers and social media, there will be a following and a competition to be popular. Teenagers are constantly seeking approval from their peers and social media is used as a yardstick by which to judge themselves and others. In today's classroom, it is important to be mindful of the negative uses of social media as well as the positive uses of it. While it can be used to create a story like on Snapchat, it can also be used inappropriately and have disastrous consequences. As a learner, it is important to be cognizant of this when using social media and, as a teacher, it is important to remind students of it.
Despite the misuse of social media that can occur, social media can be used in a positive way. In the classroom, social media may have a place as a way to present research and teach others something new in a familiar and fun way. For example, for the disease research project my class is currently doing, many chose to use Instagram and Facebook to present their research (oddly, no one chose Snapchat even though that was an option--perhaps because it needed to be more permanent?). They are doing a digital gallery walk in class next week to see and comment positively on each other's work, which would not be possible without technology. Because of the incorporation of social media into the project, rather than shunning it, my students became more creatively engaged in the project and were both excited and proud of the work they created.
As one can see, there are ways in which to use social media in the classroom. However one must be mindful of the reasons behind using it and be able to constantly adjust to the new social media tools being used in today's world.
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKSr6h5-fCU.