DOWN 7 places. First time out of the Top 10 since 2011 but it has held a strong position on the list over the last 12 years.
Although primarily used by individuals for personal networking, it is also seen as a useful tool within education to support both study groups and course sites.
Website: facebook.com
Cost: Free
Availability: Online
Top 100 Tools for Personal & Professional Learning 2018: 13
Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning 2018: –
Top 100 Tools for Education 2018: 17
Past Overall Rankings
2017: 8 2016: 6 2015: 7 2014: 9 2013: 9 2012: 9 2011: 14 2010: 9 2009: 31 2008: 24 2007: 17
Comments from some of those who selected Facebook as one of their Top 10 Tools
“Great for news and interest pieces shared by friends. And, certainly, the most influential global news aggregator.” Taryl Law, 2018
“Although this is a tool I continue to use, I now find myself drawn away from Facebook. It certainly doesn’t fit into my top 10 list. I still use it to remain connected with family and friends but it is getting challenging to find any meaningful content worth engaging with other than scheduling local events, festivals and activities into my calendar; for which I find it most useful.” Taruna Goel, 2018
“Great for more informal learning on areas of interest” Annette Poro, Belgium
“My main tool for keeping in touch with family and friends and has also become one of my main learning advocacy tools. I am definitely using it more and more for learner groups as well.” Maggie Verst, South Africa
“I use this every day as my news feed aggregate to stay up to date on the latest news in my industry from tech and learning companies. I am subscribed to many learning networks and get lots of advice and feedback here.” Sharyn Mayne, Australia
“I use Facebook to connect with friends and family. This year, I have joined a few groups and communities to connect with people who share common interests. It has been a wonderful experience connecting with ‘strangers’ and discovering friends among them 🙂 I have also been exploring the boundaries to use Facebook as a professional networking tool.” Taruna Goel, Canada
“Pages or groups for online collaboration” Carlos Lopez March, Spain
“Pretty much my main source of news and current events right now” Anon, Australia”
“My go to tool to catch news, views and fun stuff on a daily basis” Taruna Goel, L&D Manager, Canada
” the ultimate community builder and discussion tool” Roger Mundell, Vendor, Canada
“social communication and people’s behavioral analysis” Amutha Navomoney, Adult Ed teacher, Malaysia
“ask questions directly to my own local communities and close networks who are diverse” Helen Blunden, Consultant, Australia
“Great use for staying up-to-date on things that interest you. Also a good way to communicate with students, parents, community members, etc.” Michele Brown, Trainer/Instructor, USA
“This year I’ve been using Facebook A LOT to share to my friends, family and community. It’s the first place I go to and find out what is happening to my friends, family and network. I follow some fantastic public and closed Facebook and business communities where there is a lot of chatter and wonderful links and resources being shared. Although I do have a love and hate relationship with the tool, you can’t ignore that simply everyone seems to be on it and you have access to a wide, diverse network of people. Over the last year I have fixed up my privacy and security settings, hide posts and streamlined my newsfeed timeline so I see posts that are relevant to what I want to read from people who share great resources. It was a case of ‘if you can’t win it then work out ways to make it work for you!” and this was the case with me and Facebook. I’m glad I stuck with it because in all honesty, one of the best accounts I have followed this year is futurist and virtual reality fan Robert Scoble who’s Facebook Live accounts, by far, blitzed any educational forms I have seen to date by others. His live videos of his interviews with start ups, venture capitalists, new technology and virtual reality tools blew me away. His videos made me feel part of his community and he, as our teacher was instrumental in sharing what he was learning – all through real time Facebook videos. So Facebook is now in my good books again.” Helen Blunden, Consultant, Australia
“I find the Facebook groups that I am part of extremely helpful” Simon Phips, Trainer/Instructor, UK
“Learn primarily about my hobby (horses & trail riding) through groups and links to articles. Learn about many facets of workplace learning and have discussions with colleagues by following people, companies, and engaging in groups” Sharon Wingron, Consultant, USA
“To have communication with Students” Ricardo Chavez, Trainer/Instructor, Mexico
” daily use. I post my blogs on two business pages and learn from other people’s shares.” David Schindler, Job Career & Employability Coach, UK
“Facebook for tapping into others ideas & research” Richard Mundell, 2015
“there’s another group that I use like the Skype channel, and of course just what comes in from friends postings is a great source of lateral input.” Clark Quinn, 2015
“good tool to communicate across a wide audience” Diane Lowery, 2014
“I check what my friends/connections are doing, but find myself constantly asking why I am doing this. It feels a bit like voyeurism, since I rarely post in Facebook myself” Jenny Mackness, 2014
“Though I am loathe to admit it, I have used Facebook a lot more recently to keep in touch with family and community. Why? That’s where they are. Notably, they’re mostly not on Twitter or LinkedIn (some professional communities are on these sites but the wider impact is minimal).” Stephen Downes, 2014
“a source of insight” Clark Quinn, 2014
“personal and professional pages (x2)” David Schindler, 2014
“for sharing links and information with students” Chris Kirkland, 2014
“It makes it easy to follow your favorite pages and read the educational content they publish” Despina Kaliali, 2014
“a useful social media for filtered learning and teaching” Brij Bhushan Huria, 2013
“for informal discussion groups with students” Jayne Shistance 2013
“Everyone’s here. Everyone” Tim Childers 2013
“informal contact and learning” Paul Jacobs 2013
Pre-2013 comments
“I use it almost daily online and via my iPhone to learn what my nearly 300 contacts –family, friends, and business contacts – are up to. I learn about and from other people by following links they post that they find interesting; by seeing how they feel about news stories; etc” Gabe Anderson
“provides easy communication with students and colleagues, and private communication in groups” Pat Parslow
“I have been using Facebook as my primary social networking tool.” Janet Clarey
“A very interactive social network with open API for integrating with social software developed by others” Jose Carlos del Arco
“When training people around the globe, building social connections between learners is critical. Facebook helps learners put a face with a name and learn personal fact about other learners … a fantastic way to find other people who are interested in what you want to learn. Great places to share ideas.” Janice Petosky
“Still, by far, the undisputed number one. Last year I wrote: “I’ve posted about my love of Facebook before. But look, we teach these technology integration classes and we tell our students to find out what their students have and work from there. Well, where are my college undergrads? Facebook. Since I’ve started requiring my undergrads to add me as a friend, I’ve had more communication with my undergrads. It’s been crazy, actually. Students who NEVER would have gotten a hold of me before, are now writing on my wall just to say, ‘Hey Dr. Curry! What’s up?’ I love it.” John Curry
“social networking with my students, the secret killer app for education” Terry Elliott