ABSTRACT
Social networking sites have fundamentally changed the areas of social participation and communication for many people in today's society. School use of such systems tends to confine communication and networking to tightly controlled virtual learning environments (VLEs), while out-of-school use is characterized by global networks where identity is affirmed within an online community of practice. This suggests a dissonance between home and school literacy practices. However, this chapter explores how a real social networking site (Twitter) can be used in a safe way to support the development of both traditional and digital writing in classrooms. This Twitter project (@ClassroomTweets) started as a short-term classroom experiment but has now blossomed into a contextually driven way for children to make meaning within a living and breathing social network.
