If you want to engage your students in a thoughtful debate about public discourse in the age of Facebook and Twitter, you can of course use the ten or twelve excellent posts that John K. Wilson, Hank Reichman, Michael Berube, and others have made to this blog on the Steven Salaita case.

If you would like to frame the discussion somewhat more broadly, here are some essays, all available online, that might provide a nice mix:

Christenson, Christian. “The Public Professor: Critical Intellectual Discourse in the Age of Social Media.” Christian Christenson—Stockholm University [Personal Bog]. Posted: 22 Nov. 2011. http://chrchristensen.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/the-public-professor-critical-intellectual-discourse-in-the-age-of-social-media/

Daniels, Jessie, and Joe R. Feagin. “The (Coming) Social Media Revolution in the Academy.” Fast Capitalism. Posted: 02 Aug. 2011. http://www.uta.edu/huma/agger/fastcapitalism/8_2/Daniels8_2.html

De Boer, Freddie. “Where Online Social Liberalism Lost the Script.” The Dish: Biased and Balanced. Posted: 21 Aug. 2014. http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/08/21/where-online-social-liberalism-lost-the-script/

Drum, Kevin. “The Intersection of Social Liberalism and Social Media Is Brutal.” Mother Jones. Posted: 21 Aug. 2014. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/08/intersection-social-liberalism-and-social-media-brutal

Hampton, Keith, et al. “Social Media and the Spiral of Silence.” Pew Research: Internet Project. Posted: 26 Aug. 2014. http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/26/social-media-and-the-spiral-of-silence/

Heintz, Norah. “How Social Media Suppress Public Affairs Discourse.” K St Café. Posted: 27 Aug. 2014. http://kstreetcafe.com/how-social-media-suppresses-public-affairs-discourse/

Kelly, Alexander Reed. He Purpose of Argument Online.” Truthdig. Posted: 23 Aug. 2014. http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/the_purpose_of_argument_online

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Lee, Jamie. “Social Media and the Death of Discourse.” The Bash: Born on the Hill. Accessed: 30 August 2014. http://www.thebashonline.com/social-media-discourse/

Lehmann, Claire. “Digital Mobs and Outrage Generation.” Kennedy School Review. Posted: 10 Feb. 2014. http://harvardkennedyschoolreview.com/digital-mobs-outrage-generation/

Olmstead, Gracy. “Our Evolving Discourse: Communication in the Age of Social Media.” American Conservative. Posted: 26 Nov. 2013. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/our-evolving-discourse-communication-in-the-age-of-social-media/

Ramirez, Marc. “Political Discourse Has Met Its Match on Social Media.” Dallas Morning News. Updated: 23 Oct. 2012. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20121021-political-discourse-has-met-its-match-on-social-media.ece

Smith, Aaron, et al. “The Internet and Civic Engagement.” Pew Research: Pew Internet and American Life Project. Posted: Sep. 2009. http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2009/The%20Internet%20and%20Civic%20Engagement.pdf

Smith, Marc A. “Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters.” Pew Research: Internet Project. Posted: 20 Feb. 2014. http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/02/20/mapping-twitter-topic-networks-from-polarized-crowds-to-community-clusters/

Strauss, Rand. “Three Reasons Why Online Policial Discourse Is Important.” Business Insider. Posted: 26 Oct. 2012. http://www.businessinsider.com/3-reasons-online-political-discourse-is-important-2012-10

Zara, Christopher. “Is Twitter Making Us Meaner? Uncivil Discourse in the Age of Social Media. “ International Business Times. Posted; 01 Dec. 2012. http://www.ibtimes.com/twitter-making-us-meaner-uncivil-discourse-age-social-media-909856

To frame the discussion more theoretically, Alexander Reed Kelly suggests that one might consider the implications of:

Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science http://www.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full

“The Tragedy of the Commons.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons