Engage Students in History With Fake Facebook and Fake SMS

As I do every year, I am taking this week to relax, recharge, and ski with friends. While I'm away I will be re-running the most popular posts of the year. This was the third most popular post in September, 2014.

Over the years Russel Tarr has developed and released a bunch of wonderful tools through ClassTools.net. Two of my favorite tools that he has developed are Fakebook and the fake SMS Generator.

Fakebook is Russel's tool for creating fake Facebook profiles. The latest version of Fakebook makes it easy to create a page by just clicking on a field and entering as much information as you like. In the profile picture field you can enter a name and Fakebook will search for images to use. For example, if you create a Fakebook page about George Washington Fakebook will search for pictures of George Washington.

The Classtools SMS Generator is free to use and does not require students to log-in. To use the SMS Generator just click the left speech bubble icon and enter a message. Then to create a reply just click the right speech bubble icon and enter a new message. You can make the exchange as long as you like. To share the conversation click the sprocket icon and grab the embed code, direct link, or QR code for the exchange.

Applications for Education
Creating a fake Facebook profile could be a fun way for students to organize information that they know and or find about a famous person. You could also have students create profiles for characters in a novel that they are reading for your literature course. Take a look at the Fakebook profile gallery for more ideas about using Fakebook in your classroom.

You could have students use the Classtools SMS Generator to create simple conversations between historical characters as way to get them to think about those peoples' lives and the conversations that they might have had.

Fakebook Gallery - A Gallery of Fake Facebook Profiles for Historical Characters

In the past I've written about using Fakebook to have students create fictitious Facebook profiles for famous people alive and dead as well as for characters from novels. Yesterday, Russel Tarr who is the creator of Fakebook sent me a message about the gallery of Fakebook profiles that he has created. The Fakebook gallery features some of the many Fakebook profiles that students have created over the years.

Applications for Education
The Fakebook gallery could be a great place to find some ideas for your own Fakebook projects.

Create Animated Fake Facebook Profiles

Back in August I introduced you to Russel Tarr's Fakebook. Fakebook is a tool for creating fictitious Facebook profiles about famous people in history. Over the weekend a nice new feature was added to Fakebook. Fakebook Animated allows you to watch the timeline of your fake Facebook profiles unfold over time. For an example, click here to watch Harry Truman's Fakebook profile unfold over time.

Applications for Education
Creating Fakebook profiles for famous people in history could be a good way for students to create the outline of a biography. If you're looking for an alternative to traditional book reports, creating Fakebook profiles for the characters in a novel could be a good way to have students outline the important points in a character's development.

Click here for three other ways that students can create fictitious Facebook profiles for historical characters.

Classtools Fakebook - Create a Fictitious Facebook Page

Last month I shared a post about three ways students can create fake Facebook profiles for historical characters. Here's another way that you can do the same. Classtools.net has a free tool that students can use to generate and share fake facebook pages. The ninety second video here provides a good overview of how it works.

Applications for Education
Creating a fake Facebook profile could be a fun way for students to organize information that they know and or find about a famous person. You could also have students create profiles for characters in a novel that they are reading for your literature course.

Three Ways to Create Fake Facebook Profiles for Historical Characters

Creating a fake Facebook profile for a character in a book or of a famous person in history could be a good way to get students interested in writing about that person. Doing that on Facebook.com is a violation of Facebook's terms of service, but there are some ways to create fake Facebook profiles without using Facebook.com. Here are three ways to create fake Facebook profiles.

My Fake Wall is a tool for creating a fake Facebook wall for a fictitious or historical character. To create a Fake Wall you do need to register for a My Fake Wall account. After registering you can upload images, write wall posts, even create "likes" and comments on fake posts. Click here to see the beginning of the Fake Wall I created for my dog. My Fakewall is no longer functioning.

Derrick Waddell created a Facebook template for historical figures. This template, available through the Google Docs public template gallery, asks students to complete a Facebook profile for famous people throughout history. The template has a place for pictures, an "about me" section, a friends column, and a map to plot the travels of historical figures. Please note, this template will not result in an actual Facebook account being created. Check out Derrick Waddell's blog Teach the Cloud where he has shared a video tutorial on using the Historical Facebook Template among other useful Google tutorials. The video is embedded below.

The Wall Machine allows users to generate a series of fake Facebook updates. You can add pictures to the fake profiles you create using The Wall Machine. The downside to The Wall Machine is that you have to sign in using your real Facebook account. So if Facebook is blocked in your school, The Wall Machine probably won't work for you. Watch the short video below for an overview of The Wall Machine.

The Wall Machine - Demo from kais on Vimeo.

My Fake Wall - Create a Fake Facebook Wall

My Fakewall is no longer functioning.

Last summer I shared with you a Google Docs template for creating fake Facebook profiles. That template was designed by Derrick Waddell for his students to use to create Facebook profiles for historical figures. Today, I discovered My Fake Wall which is a tool for creating a fake Facebook wall for a fictitious or historical character.  To create a Fake Wall you do need to register for a My Fake Wall account. Then you can upload images, write wall posts, even create "likes" and comments on fake posts. Click here to see the beginning of the Fake Wall I created for my dog.