While schools have been using computers within their classrooms for years now, there has been a purposeful ignoring of the growing power of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Many schools ban students from accessing and using sites such as Facebook at school and many English and literacy teachers ignore or deny their value as a teaching tool. With the growth of technology we have seen shifts in educational pedagogy in relation to computers, but as educators we may still see value only in literary texts rather than seeing the importance of this everyday language to the younger generation. Social networking sites such as Facebook have changed our perceptions of the purpose of written language; it has crossed the boundaries between public and private and created a new public arena for informal written conversation. This article examines the literature surrounding this new media and how these new forms of communication can be used in the teaching of critical literacy. The case study was undertaken with a year 12 English Pathways class as a way of demonstrating knowledge of language conventions and how these can be utilised, changed, adapted and perverted in order to create new meaning. The findings from this study indicate that students were able to interpret, analyse and evaluate this social communication in a way that allowed them to reach their own conclusions. This article was not a study on the specific value of Facebook, but more on how social networks are gaining popularity and how social communication has value to us as a way of representing the voice of the younger generation. The findings from the study indicate the level of power that social networks have and the necessity for educators to use pedagogy that is socially aware and technology inclusive.