Student reliance on social media is undeniable. However, while we largely regard social media as a new phenomena, the concepts underlying it come directly from social network theory in sociology and organizational behavior. In this article, the authors examine how the social network concepts of size, quality, complexity, diffusion, and distance determine the situational usefulness of social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The authors also provide in-class and out-of-class teaching assignments that help students recognize the specific ways in which social networks can aid or hinder their professional endeavors.
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