Great expectations exist around the benefits that may provide the applying Social Networks (SN) on internet in different areas. However, the high potential that these networks may have for establishing personal contact and information sharing on educational environments has not been exploited yet. This paper shows a conceptual frame of the SN on internet and Communities of Practice (CoP), theirs similarity and differences. It also introduces the concept of Community of Practice as a mechanism that offers value added to the educational communities for the construct and exchange of knowledge and learning from experience. Reflections about the concepts and representative study cases in the educational field in Colombia are added. There is recognized that with the development of a proper management model, Communities of Practice can be grown upon social networks with Information technologies incorporated with a clear purpose.