Social Networking and Online Collaboration Sites: Benefits vs. Risks

In the workshop on Facebook this week, BJ talked about how his district has a policy that teachers are not allowed to have their students as friends on Facebook. A few other classmates also said that their district has a similar policy. At the college where I teach, we don't have any particular policies on that, but Facebook is blocked. Bj went on to demonstrate some great ways that Facebook could be used in the classroom such as a discussion board or office hours in the evenings so students can seek help when it is needed. Facebook would be a very useful tool for education and there are other sites out there that could also be great tools such as Second Life or Twitter. However, as an educational community we are still unsure as to whether it is safe and appropriate to use these resources. We don't want to cross the wrong lines and not knowing what results or implications may follow, we would rather be safe than sorry. This is a constant battle between the benefits and risks of these tools, and the risks seem to be winning. I wonder if we will ever find a resolution to this battle and find the perfect balance that will allow us to use some of these tools without reservation. I am guessing we won't until there are some online tools created with education in mind. Facebook and Second Life were not created as such nor were many of the other sites out there.