Conclusion

The BEST way to encourage your students to use Social Media with their school work is to make sure YOU use it in class too! You don't have to use it all, pick what will work the best and your students will be thrilled that you "speak their language."

Purdue Lets Students Text in Class – using Hot Seat 

Hotseat is a tool that was developed at Purdue. It’s a tool that students use to participate in classroom discussion using other methods that are already familiar. (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Text Messaging) 

Instructors can pose questions and students answer via Hotseat. Controversial subjects can also be discussed without embarrassment – especially in large 100+ student classes. (The Instructor knows who made the comment, but students don't.) It also encourages more interaction among students – such as setting up study groups. Hotseat Information Page: http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/hotseat/ 

To see how things have changed, and will continue to change in the world of the Internet/Web, watch this video. It's an interesting look.