Evaluation of a Social Network Activity within the Scope of the Digital Citizenship

The present study focused on whether an activity process conducted via the social network of Twitter was consistent with the nine elements (etiquette, commerce, communication, literacy, access, responsibility, law, health and security) of digital citizenship suggested by Ribble and Bailey (2004a). The related literature was reviewed, and within the scope of the activity carried out via Twitter, the process was evaluated in terms of students’ acquisition of the qualifications required by digital citizenship. The activity was carried out with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade teacher students attending the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology at the Education Faculty of Anadolu University. Within the scope of the activity, a competition was held via Twitter. The competition lasted five weeks in total, and the students were asked to send tweets regarding the theme determined for each week. The nine elements of digital citizenship suggested by Ribble and the four-phase structure the researcher developed was seen to comply substantially with the activity carried out in the present study. In this respect, the present study revealed that digital-based activities to be carried out at schools regarding the training of digital citizens will provide an important development process. For parents, teachers and instructors who have undertaken the role of guidance for the young generation up until now, a radical change is envisaged regarding technology. It could be stated that the digital divide likely to occur due to lack of any sample to be taken by the young to keep up with the renovations could be overcome by making everybody adopt digital citizenship norms