Give them marks for joining Facebook and for searching for and finding family members.

Ask them to find presentations on the use of certain social media on slideshare and then ask them to follow some of the suggestions given in those presentations? That way the person can get to know different uses and chose which one sounds attractive to him/her

@Kristoffer. Thank you for the link. I am reviewing it currently. I find this basically social site ( ResearchGate) to be extremely useful. I wonder if that is a major driving criteria for a social net working site to become used? " the more people use a service then the more useful those users find it, thus recommending it and adding more users"(Siemens, Weller 2011)

I think the basic use of social media is quite simple and intuitive so almost anyone can learn it easily. In case someone still finds it difficult then online presentations as mentioned by @Prinsen can be handy. However, the "useful usage" as mentioned by @Greaves is context dependent and requires more of serious and methodical effort. It also needs a lot of creative thinking in addition to technical know-how. In such cases I would say targeted and objective assignments/exercises/projects can be highly useful.

Good point, Rauf, because 'professional use' can mean many things depending on the professional context. I think application for setting up personal learning networks are interesting. There is a lot to be found about it online.

Encouraging your students to create blogs and other stuff is a better way for starters . This way the students are able to build and interact with other users

LinkedIn is a great resource for following professional societies or topics.

As Juliet mentioned, blogs are good to write & comment on.

Closed/Secret Facebook page for the class. Present the case -let the students expand on problems.

I love using Twitter in the classroom for Q&A. Shy students pose more questions.

It's also great for use in a large classroom or conference, to share gems if you have breakout sessions & can't be in both rooms. Hashtags are a must in this case. Students can also follow & chat with professionals and experts in their field - that they may not have access to otherwise.

When I teach new professionals about social media I start with the "Big 3" LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I tell them that they are building their brand. They are letting the world know them professionally. I let them create their profiles the way they see them selves then I go in and polish the rough spots. When we are done the professional has learned how to use social media and has a set of profiles that are consistent and represents them well.

I have taught big concepts like sharing, co-writing, reflecting etc. in different technological tools. I think that students has to learn how to blog and how to build knowledge in wiki's. Also it's important to know how to use different cloud-services.

So far students have been really interested in. Decent instructional design helps to create integrated learning experience, I have written about the instructional design: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233926689_Supporting_small-group_learning_using_multiple_Web_2.0_tools_A_case_study_in_the_higher_education_context

Article Supporting small-group learning using multiple Web 2.0 tools...

One of the problems with using conventional 'public' social media sites as training grounds is that they expose users to global scrutiny -- possibly before those users are sufficiently versed in the use of appropriate privacy measures. Regardless of privacy settings, I would not encourage professionals to have _any_ exposure on Facebook until absolutely required and until the dangers are adequately conveyed.

To this end, tightly-constrained environments are preferable. Google Docs are good for collaboration, while many e-learning environments (including Moodle & Sakai) offer multiple social options including forums and wikis. Moodle can be set up by nearly anybody with marginal effort with practically no money. These environments allow students to discover the general principles of social media without the inherent dangers.

I know that this post is very late, Gordon, though you may find some helpful information in this MOOC about Social Media for Active Learning at http://meme.coe.fsu.edu/smooc/#.U17orRDCb-o