Abstract:

It is obvious, that usage of social networking websites is constantly growing. In Lithuania, a rapid growth of usage has been observed in recent years, taking into account local (national) social networking websites as well. Facebook.com is one among 10 mostly visited networks in Lithuania. Lithuanian consumers are not an exception – not a small part of them also use several social networking websites. Both in the world and in Lithuania, business takes an active interest in social networking websites. An evident tendency is the expansion of SNW possibilities in business environment. If earlier it was thought that usage of SNW is a waste of time, in the latter years business finds more and more reasons why social networking websites ought to be used. This is marketing, service and product advertisement, new client search, cooperation development and so on. The other thing – the amount and the flow of information will certainly not decrease and therefore information usage and management in general, will remain urgent (Lamanauskas, 2012a). Thus, can social networks effectively perform educational functions? Can they become a proper professional development instrument? We can formulate a lot of questions. The phenomenon of social networking websites is new and complicated, rapidly changing. However, not only the question of the use is problematic. Academic community, being inert, hardly accept any innovations. Researchers should focus not only on the students 'interest in and ability to use the Social Networking Websites, but also lecturers' attitude to the new opportunities. Therefore, exhaustive empirical researches are necessary, seeking to maximally use the SNW providing possibilities for educational purposes.

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