Safe Social Networking Tailored For K-12 Schools

Today, more and more students are using social networking for entertainment and communication purposes.  Students enjoy social networking and are using it more and more throughout the day.  Students are given the opportunity in some schools to use this social networking for an educational purpose.  Students can chat with historical figures (played by their teacher), classmates, and their teacher in a controlled environment.  This is using something students enjoy doing for an educational reason.  Students can become excited about learning through using social networking.  I believe this would be great to use with students.  However, teachers must be very cautious.  Because this is an online social network, teachers must constantly monitor this.  It, however, provides teachers an awesome opportunity to help students understand how to use the internet, including safety and communication ettiquette.