The two-way Web technologies are steadily growing in use and invading all aspects of life as well as education institutions, accompanied by a raft of affordances that expand how we teach, communicate and organise learning.  In a few years “Web 2.0” services such as blogs, wikis and social bookmarking applications, as well as social networking sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, are becoming an integrated part of young people social networking in western societies (Lenhart & Madden, 2007; Lenhart et al. 2010) influencing the institutional contexts of communication and learning in school and higher education (Silseth, Vasbø & Erstad, 2012). However, despite this widespread use of Web2.0 teaching and learning in school is a conflicting area for integrated use. Web2.0 practices are challenging established norms and values in education, institutional structures and authorities, assessment systems and task cultures of learning (Luckin et al. 2009; Lund, Rasmussen & Smørdal, 2010). While most of the Web2.0 studies in school are focusing on teaching and learning at the classroom level, this paper investigates the affordances of these technologies and the choices and constraints they offer to principals and middle managers in managing and developing their schools.

The research question focuses on how principals and middle managers are using Web2.0 technologies as tools for leadership and management and what affordances these tools offer to their work in terms of new possibilities and applications.

This study is a follow-up of previous studies describing technology-enhanced practices in primary and secondary schools and the role of leadership for learning and institutional change (Olofsson et al. 2010; KP-Lab, 2009; Hauge, Norenes & Vedøy, 2012; Hauge & Norenes, 2010).

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