The topic of Facebook, Google and Twitter are hotly debated in most of my classes. Professors constantly warn us that if we wish to have a job in the future, we cannot have any scandalous or questionable photographs or statuses on any of those sites. It's an easy warning to ignore - telling ourselves we'll worry about it when it gets closer to our employment, or simply deactivate our Facebooks when we seek employment. The issue of online privacy is an extremely important topic, as now employers are demanding employee passwords to Facebook. Clearly, the line between real life, private life, public life, and professional life are getting more and more blurred; I am feeling more and more uncomfortable.
On one hand, I agree that people should not be posting ridiculous pictures or statuses on their social networking sites. I've changed my name on Facebook, made myself unsearchable, took down my wall so my friends couldn't post rude comments, I have to approve all photo tags, and I only post statuses with song lyrics or the usual "I need coffee!" as I drink coffee everyday. I have to go to all of this trouble to have a Facebook - which I use to keep in touch with family members that live far away, keep up with alumni in my Greek organization, and capitalize on the multi-message feature to get group work done. Emails are nice, but they tend to get jumbled with messages, even when all parties are CC'ed on the email chain. When a group is larger than two people, being able to send 3+ people one message on Facebook is a convenience I can hardly do without. I spend a large amount of time making sure that my Facebook is not questionable or scandalous. So, why am I so concerned about employers asking for social networking passwords?
Letting an employer into the private messages of my Facebook is an invasion of privacy to me. It would be like handing over my cell phone to have them read through all of my text messages, or have them join the phone line whenever I made a phone call. Yes, I use my Facebook for practical means, but it is also for social networking, and conversations that are eternally "archived" and can never be deleted should not be for my employer to view. To relate this back to the classroom, it would be as if I provided that password to all of my professors now and had them evaluate my personal life. Further, if I were a teacher, I would imagine this situation would be the same if I told students that to receive their grades in my class, they would have to provide me with access to their social networking pages. It's one thing if a person wants to expose every detail of their entire lives to the internet - believe me, I am shocked at some of the things I see in my news feed - but for those of us that are working to keep ourselves professional, why the push to go further into our lives?
For my future students, this would be essential for me to discuss. There's the educational debate about using social networking in classrooms. I've seen teachers use Facebook as part of their curriculum - having students make pages for book characters, for example, is a fun way to check a students understanding of characterization and content. It becomes fun for students because they are using a social networking tool they do everyday to bring relevance to a classroom topic. I've seen the same for Twitter - assignments where students have to tweet from the perspective of a character in the novel, or pretend to add themselves into the book and tweet from that perspective - are also inventive and fun. I could see how Google+ could become a great classroom assignment. Each student could make a page for a character, and add their other classmates' characters to their "circles." Overall, I've seen these type of assignments be extremely effective and hope to implement them in my own classroom.
Still, using Facebook and Twitter in the classroom would necessitate the conversation of online professionalism and personal privacy. The same way that these technologies have started the "cyber-bullying" campaign, they must also spark discussions of privacy. I can understand why people feel that what they do outside of school or work is simply that: outside of school and work, therefore, not effecting either. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world like that anymore. I want to give my students as many tools as I can to be successful in and out of the classroom, thus taking time away from the more structured curriculum to discuss this important and controversial topic. As technology becomes more and more integrated into our lives, conversations about safety, respect, bullying, permanence, and responsibility must also become integrated into our lives.
Lizz, I cannot agree more with the host of points you made throughout this blog. I, too, have begun to make my Facebook page more professional, so to speak, and constantly worry that something so minute will end up making that much of a difference when I am either employed or looking to be employed. I also agree that employers who are requiring their employees to dole out their Facebook passwords to them is an invasion of privacy. If your Facebook is already unsearchable and tactful, having gone through the means of keeping it professional to the extent that you already have, why pursue the matter further by asking for our password? What I choose to send in private messages is exactly that: private. I completely agree that when giving an employer access to that kind of information, it falls on the same line as handing them over our cell phones, which are also filled with private, personal information.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that those of us seeking employment as educators will be smart enough to keep our personal lives to ourselves and not let our social networking sites jeopardize our future careers. However, I do not believe that means that we should not be allowed to partake in these sites. I, like you, use Facebook as a means to keep in touch with a variety of people. Why should we not be allowed to be a part of these sites while maintaining professionalism? As long as we do not blur the line between our employment and our personal life, our passwords should be kept to ourselves.
Lizz, thanks for providing us with this post, I feel like it is very important for us to talk about this at this time. I recall in CURR 210 a similar discussion came up where a teacher was fired for being tagged in a picture where she was at a bar (mind you she was of legal age). I believe that this is absolutely ridiculous, teachers are people too and are allowed to have personal lives as well. As long as personal life does not interfere with professional life, what is the issue? I agree with you that some see social networking sites as a forum to post frivolous statuses and ludicrous pictures, but this is not the case for most. I feel like this is a case where a couple people ruin something for all and therefore we are all required to take steps that should otherwise be unnecessary. Progressing to the request of Face book passwords by employers, I cannot even fathom how preposterous that is. For one, as you mentioned, it is a complete invasion of privacy. I would not even want to work for an employer who requested my password to anything due to the fact that I do not view that as a proper way of employee screening. Again as you mentioned, I believe this is a topic that we should explore with our future students. We must make it clear how online professionalism and safety must be employed, but we must also make them aware of their privacy rights as well.
ReplyDeleteLizz,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a fine point on this entry and I have found myself talking about the very issue with my cooperating teacher. I think it is necessary to find the common ground with when it is okay to use Facebook, Twitter, and Google in the classroom. I find it helpful to conduct specific rules (created by the students) when using major websites like these for class. When students create their own rules they are much more likely to respect the system. We live in a tech savvy society, so as future teachers this is not something we can simply ignore. I personally think as an english teacher, Facebook an twitter really help enhance lesson plans. For instance, while studying The Odyssey, I would like my students to create status updates for their designated greek God/Goddesses to help make learning fun/interactive. While studying The Catcher in the Rye, I'd want to incorporate twitter and ask students to create "what would Holden Caulfield tweet." By managing the necessary rules and regulations, it is definitely possible to bring these types of technologies into the classroom.
Lizz,
ReplyDeleteI feel that you have brought to light an important issue for students in today's schools. Currently, many adults, much less students, fail to keep professional profiles on facebook and other social sites. I feel that one of the first steps in ensuring this changes is teach students in our classes to remain professional at all times. One site I feel would be beneficial to this discussion is: reppler.com. Students can use this site and learn about the various aspects of their profile, whether it be their status updates, photos, comments their friends make, etc. and which sections are sub-par.