I’ve created a Ning site, which is very similar to MySpace but can be configured so only invited people can enter, and it has quite a lot of control over configuration. It’s the most useful tool I’ve found for teaching writing, and I did more (online) writing conferences because of it than I ever had managed before: http://www.ning.com/

I just set up a “GoodReads” account for my daughter, and once I’d said I’d be her “friend” all of a sudden it’s asking her if she wants to invite all my friends to be her friends. Social networking sites make it hard to compartmentalize your life unless you make a special effort to do so — for example, having one persona where you talked to your students and another where you talked to your drinking buddies.

In the not-too-distant future I would guess that there would be software easily available for schools to set up in-house social networks. My daughter’s school uses SchoolLoop which does quite a bit — students can e-mail teachers and each other, teachers can e-mail students and parents either individually, or as a group. I think there are fancier programs available, too.