Social Media Literacy

Social media are changing the media landscape and therefore, media education will need to change alongside it. The likes of YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Flickr offer individuals the opportunity to participate in media culture in unprecedented ways as producers of media, not just consumers.

While some media educators have resisted a new media in the past, on the basis that it was either the realm of technology educators or the province of geeks, there is no doubt that social media is a mainstream phenomenon and media teachers need to keep pace with developments.

Social media also brings attention to all the old issues and debates that media educators have been responding to for decades, first in relation to popular fiction, comic books and the cinema, then television, and later video games - that these media are corrupting, dangerous and anti intellectual. Of course, there is a need to be mindful of online crime, but media educators also need to fight for the right to educate about these media.

Currently, Education Queensland blocks student access to Myspace and YouTube in Queensland state schools. I believe this is a retrograde step that is akin to the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand. If students aren't able to learn how to be ethical, safe and critical in relation to these spaces at school, where is this likely to occur?

In the meantime, teachers need to find alternatives to these online spaces so that students can learn about the unique nature of social media, and learn to ask critical questions about it.