Recently several colleagues and clients have sent me Facebook "friend requests." I'd like to have an easy way to keep in touch with them professionally...but I don't quite feel comfortable adding them to my list. Do I really want my professional peers checking out the pictures from last weekend's party? Is my favorite client going to drop me when he realizes I subscribe to the views of a different political party than he does? My Facebook page isn't extreme or inappropriate. But, that doesn't mean I want to blend my personal life with my professional life.

According to recent research, many students feel the same. Networking sites like Facebook hold a lot of untapped potential when it comes to online learning...and students want it to stay that way. A recent Guardian article reports:

"E-learning gurus want to exploit their students' passion for the new generation of interactive online communication tools - collectively known as web 2.0 - to deliver academic content. Not content with podcasting mini-lectures to students' mobile phones and i-pods, they are hijacking the internet telephone system, Skype, and invading FaceBook...

Online spaces are blurring, as universities that podcast and text their students have shown. The Jisc project manager, Lawrie Phipps, explains how the battle lines are being drawn: "Students really do want to keep their lives separate. They don't want to be always available to their lecturers or bombarded with academic information."

One idea is to create "channels" on social sites that limit the information schools can see. Another possibility is forming an entirely new social site - one dedicated exclusively to professional interaction with schools and business associates.