“With the emergence of Web 2.0, networking in online environments has become an increasingly popular form of social interaction that allows participants to express themselves, build profiles, form online communities of common interests, and interact socially with others (McBride, 2009). This phenomenon of social networking, made possible by the invention of new communicative technologies, reflects a changing attitude towards the Internet as a social platform and a greater trust in its possibilities as a social medium. Participants of online social networks engage in relationships, form friendships, collaborate with others, and, while doing all that, enact and fashion distinct identities (Lomicka & Lord, 2009).Social interactivity, as well as an increased popularity among students, has made social networking sites an attractive environment for language learning and a potential platform for Internet-based cultural tasks in second language (L2) classes. This instructional use of modern communication technologies has been brought into a narrow focus with the birth of a new generation of students, often labeled as the Net Generation (Tapscott, 2009) or digital natives (Prensky, 2001). This generation has grown up depending on technology, and because of that, Prensky argues, their mental functions are mediated by technology, at least to the extent that they process information in a fundamentally different fashion than previous generations of learners did.”
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