Your Facebook Privacy is YOUR Responsibility, Not Your Friends'...

Social networking is a great way to share our lives and keep in touch with friends, but it's important that we all keep ourselves educated on how our settings work and only share information about privacy that is accurate.

For example, I've lost count of how many of my friends have posted the status below in recent weeks:

Hello, FB friends: I want to stay PRIVATELY connected with you. I post shots of my family that I don't want strangers to have access to! However, with the recent changes in FB, the "public" can now see activities in ANY wall. This happens when our friend hits "like" or "comment" ~ automatically, their friends would see our posts too. Unfortunately, we can not change this setting by ourselves because Facebook has configured it this way. PLEASE place your mouse over my name above (DO NOT CLICK), a window will appear, now move the mouse on “FRIENDS" (also without clicking), then down to "Settings", click here and a list will appear. REMOVE the CHECK on "COMMENTS & LIKE" and also "PHOTOS". By doing this, my activity among my friends and family will no longer become public. Now, copy and paste this on your wall. Once I see this posted on your page I will do the same. Thanks!

The information Above is Grossly Misleading and Inaccurate

• It's NOT true that the public can see activities on any wall. Unless the wall owner wants them to. You are still in control of the audience for your posts. (Scroll below for some links that will tell you more about your Facebook privacy.)
• If you read carefully and think about what the instructions say, you'll see that if they are followed, all your friends will succeed in doing is hiding your comments, likes, and photos from themselves. Don't you want  your Facebook friends to see these things?
• IF the instructions were accurate (they aren't; see previous bullet point), in order to work, they would depend on ALL of your Facebook friends reading them (how many of your friends log in only occasionally or not at all?) and ALL of your Facebook friends following them (just like you do everything your friends tell you to do in their posts, right?)

If the Information is Wrong, Why Is It Spreading?

This post is going viral on Facebook because it appeals to our trust in our friends and our desire for privacy, even in the online world. But how much do we REALLY care about our online "privacy"? Enough to copy and re-post an inaccurate set of instructions, but perhaps not enough to go to the little gear at the top right of our Facebook pages and click on our Privacy Settings to check them out or click on Help to search and try to confirm if the instructions we are posting really work. (I won't even delve into the irony of wanting "privacy" when we willingly post our personal thoughts and artifacts all over our profiles.) 

What If I Really Care About My Facebook Privacy?

If you really are concerned about how far the information you post on Facebook spreading, you might want to check out the links below. I found these by searching Facebook Help, which although still a complicated land, has been improved in its organization.

• When I Share Something, How Do I Choose Who Can See It?
• What Audiences Can I Choose From When I Share?
• What Does the "Friends/Friends(+)" Privacy Setting Mean?

Why Are You Writing About This on an EdTech Blog?

I'm writing about this because digital citizenship and digital literacy are topics I am passionate about. So much so that it's hard for me to sit quietly when wrong information is circulating. Ask my friends who have gotten personal replies on their walls after posting the notice that started this blog post! After seeing this too many times to count, I figured it was time to try and reach out and enlighten an audience larger than just my own friends. Also, it will be faster for me to share one link to this blog post when needed, rather than the multiple links I've been sharing (the bulleted list above).

No matter what our age, all of us need to be continuous learners when it comes to the online world. Because technology always changes. Because as young people we are growing up in a technology saturated world where there is no longer a distinct separation between the online and offline spheres in our lives. Because as adults we are responsible for helping young people (and our peers) navigate ever-evolving digital waters.

Don't Feel Bad If A Friend Sent You Here Because You Posted the Aforementioned Status!

First of all, your friend cares about you if they cared enough to help you accurately learn about your privacy settings. Second of all, Facebook privacy (and online privacy in general) are constantly moving targets. If you're confused, you're in good company.  If the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can get tripped up by her privacy settings, it's a good bet it can happen to any one of us at any time.

Now Go Forth and Educate Yourself and Your Friends!

Hopefully, you've learned a few new privacy tips from this blog post. Now, continue the learning and spread it to others. The two most effective things you can do are regularly check your own privacy settings to make sure you are sharing what you want with whom you want, and gently let your friends know if they are spreading inaccurate information or you suspect they might be sharing info with a larger audience than intended.

If each of us takes responsibility for our own privacy, we'll be protecting ourselves as well as our friends.

Tools for Building a Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Today at the Spring TCEA TECSIG meeting, Kim Garcia and I are presenting on Tools for Building a Personal Learning Network in one of the breakout sessions. Below is a link to our Livebinder with resources for the presentation.

Tools for Building a Personal Learning Network

Hope this is helpful to the participants and others who may find their way to this post!

Create an Interest List for Professional Learning on Facebook

I was asked to be a guest this evening on the Tightwad Teacher podcast. The topic was The Connected Teacher. The podcast was live streamed, but it will also be edited and posted in final format next week.

In prep for the podcast, I created a little tutorial on how to create an interest list on Facebook to leverage Facebook for professional learning. I've blogged about Facebook for professional learning in the past, but I think the recent addition of interest lists to Facebook makes this endeavor even easier.

Below is the tutorial. I am also just learning to use Camtasia, so please excuse any blips! If this tutorial is helpful to you or gives you any other ideas for extending learning via social media, please share in the comments. Thanks!

Trying to Ban Facebook is Not the Answer...

Image Source

It is our professional opinion that you get your child off Facebook. -  From Pinecrest Preparatory Middle-High Administration Letter to Parents, February 22, 2012

When I first read and watched a news story about this Florida charter school's letter to parents encouraging them to get their kids off of Facebook because of the problems social media activities were causing during the school day, it got me thinking. I wondered what would make a school even venture this request in our social media saturated society. And I remembered this wasn't the first time I had heard of such a request from school administration. What is going on here?

Looking into the Pinecrest situation further, I read their complete letter to parents, posted on their website. Based on the strong nature of the letter, the school is obviously facing some difficult issues. It is hard to cultivate the positive environment required for teaching and learning if social issues are causing continuous disruption. You and I can sympathize. We would not want to try to teach nor have our own children/students learn in such an environment.

These problems are not unique to Pinecrest. This school just happens to be in the spotlight right now because of the approach they have chosen to take.

But is asking parents to get their children off of Facebook the answer?



Even if They All Left Facebook

Used Under Creative Commons License

Let's assume for a moment that in a perfect world, 100% of Pinecrest parents buy in to this request from administration, and 100% of the students comply with their parents' wishes and close their Facebook accounts. Here are some possible outcomes I envision:

• A tool has been removed, but the underlying behavior patterns have not been dealt with. Students continue their negative social interactions but simply use other mediums. (The Pinecrest letter acknowledges this possibility when it mentions negative aspects of texting, but does not call for a ban on texting plans or cellphones.)

• Looking for other ways to connect, students may turn to any of the less popular or lesser used/known social networking sites that exist out there. Not to mention online games and chat rooms. This may make their activity even more difficult to monitor for parents and the school. At least most parents and school faculty/staff are on Facebook and have an awareness of how it works and what is going on there.

• There are also plenty of free sites where students can set up websites and blogs. Tumblr is an example of a blogging site which is extremely popular with teens.

• Students have been cruel to each other and bullied each other since the dawn of schools. And schools have had to deal with the fallout of these interactions. I myself was picked on in middle school by a group that put me in awkward situations at school and used the telephone to call and harass me. The tools of the time were different, but the actions were the same. If parents and schools do not work together on character education, setting expectations, using inappropriate student actions as teachable moments, and enforcing consequences for specific incidents, ultimately nothing will change. Students will find other avenues for their social behavior, both good and bad.

The Realistic Alternative: Model, Supervise, & Create Positive Opportunities for Social Media Use

Used Under a Creative Commons License

We all know the reality: Pinecrest students on the whole will not leave Facebook. A few might for a while, but most will eventually go back. With or without the knowledge of their parents and teachers. Facebook is the way the vast majority of us communicate with each other. Facebook and social media are not going away. If you are concerned about how your children or students are using social media, you must work with them to build critical skills they need to function in today's world and the world of tomorrow. 

None of the suggestions below are quick fixes, which is I believe what a frustrated school like Pinecrest is looking for. But they will serve families, schools, and students much better in the long run as they will better equip all of those stakeholders to thrive in a hyperconnected world.

What Administrators, Educators, and Schools Can Do

• As administrators and educators, take advantage of the professional learning that you could be doing via social media. As you become more comfortable with using social media tools to learn, you will cultivate a positive online presence that can serve as a model and also gather professional connections and resources to help you when your school is struggling with difficulties. High school principal Eric Sheninger serves as a great example of someone who didn't get social media at first but who over the last three years has become convinced of its usefulness for his own learning as well as his students. I've written on my own blog about using Facebook for professional learning and recently presented a workshop on using Twitter for professional learning. Participating in social media for professional and educational reasons has helped me understand at a deep level the power and positive potential of the medium. 

• Understand that increasingly a person's online reputation now counts as their resume. Studies over the last year have shown that four out of five college admissions officers use Facebook to recruit students and more and more companies are looking at Facebook to find potential employees. Given these growing trends, not having an online presence could hurt a student's chances of getting into the college or career of their choosing. Students cannot wait until they are out of high school to establish or learn to negotiate having an online presence. The fact that our online reputations matter more and more each day can be used to teach students about the long-term importance of what they are doing online. Instead of banning Facebook, consider using it as a teaching tool.
• Provide positive online experiences for your students which are integrated with their learning. Consider using Edmodo, a high quality networking site that is free of charge and aimed at schools for the purpose of creating online learning communities. Blog with your students; some great resources for learning about and teaching with blogging can be found here, here, and here.
• Get students involved in collaborative projects which use technology and social media as tools for learning. The Flat Classroom Projects are award winning, quality opportunities for just such an endeavor, and their themes include digital citizenship, social action, and cross-cultural understanding. Flat Classroom also provides teacher training and support. You can also encourage students to use online tools in service of others. Check out what these Texas high school students have accomplished for kids in Kenya.
• There are more ideas interspersed throughout the slides from my recent presentation on Supporting Teachers and Students in the Curation of Their Digital Footprint.
• BOTTOM LINE: Don't try to ban Facebook or any other social media, but instead find ways to positively integrate them into teaching and learning. Doing so will provide myriad opportunities to discuss personal use of social media with students and mentor them in positive practices. 

What Parents Can Do

• Talk with your children regularly and often about your expectations for their behavior in personal interactions, whether they be in person or online. The two worlds are no longer separate. How you conduct yourself in front of others, whether talking, texting, chatting, or posting on Facebook, reveals your character; who you are as a person.
• If your child is under 13, they should not be on Facebook. It is a violation of Facebook's Terms of Service. This means most kids in the U.S. should not have an account until somewhere in the 7th grade at the earliest. One of the strongest statements you can make to your children about appropriate social media use is following the service terms of the sites they use.
• For younger kids, consider letting them participate in an age appropriate social network. One I've heard and read great things about is Yoursphere, which is for kids only and has the additional mission of teaching good online citizenship. Yoursphere also has great resources for parents.
• Make sure your child is not lying about their age on Facebook, even if they are 13 or older. Facebook has more strict privacy settings for users under 18.
• Educate yourself about Facebook and ways to positively interact with your kids about and through the social space. This Parents' Guide to Facebook from ConnectSafely.org is a great place to start. If you feel lost in the digital world, do not continue in your ignorance. Find adults in your life who know more than you and ask them questions. Ask your own kids questions about what they are doing online and how they do it; you may establish some bridges in your relationship!
• Monitor your children's computer and internet use. Insist that computer use occur in common areas of  the home, where others are likely to be present. Keep the charging station for cell phones in your bedroom and put all cell phones there at night. Friend them on Facebook and have rules that nothing posted should be hidden from family. Monitor what they post and discuss it with them privately.

• BOTTOM LINE: Remember you know how to parent and teach. You have taught or will teach your kids to walk through neighborhoods, ride bikes, and drive cars, even though all of those activities have potential pitfalls and dangers. You don't lock your kids away from those opportunities; you taught or will teach them how to participate appropriately and safely, and how to respect others when doing so. The digital environment of online activity is a different space, but the underlying principles of conducting oneself as a responsible, decent human being are the same.

Social Media Isn't Going Away

Public Domain

When the Pinecrest story first hit my Twitter feed yesterday, I sent out a Tweet asking others what advice they might give this school. I share here, with permission, the thoughts sent over two Tweets from Rick Archer, a school administrator from the Houston area.

I think you have to teach students about responsibility and consequences when using public social media. We have character ed/social skills training daily on topics just like this. We adults have to accept and adapt. (emphasis mine)

I agree wholeheartedly with Rick! It is time for educators who have been reluctant to enter the social media world professionally and/or with students to reassess. I truly believe that successful use and management of social media and our online presence has now become a life-skill that we are obligated to teach and teach well if we want our children and students to lead productive lives in today's society and in whatever the society will look like for them in ten, twenty, or thirty years.

It is certainly not in the best interest of students to stick our heads in the sand and try to pretend this social media thing can be shelved or made to go away. Instead, we ourselves need to commit to becoming more educated and staying up-to-date on trends in this arena so we can guide our students in a knowledgeable and positive manner. Doing so over time will improve our school environments and allow us to focus on quality teaching and learning in all areas.

Your Future Self May Thank You: Tidy Up Your Online Presence Over the Holidays

Courtesy of morguefile.com

The holiday season is often a period of looking backwards and forwards at the same time. We reflect on the happenings and learnings of the twelve months that are coming to a close while anticipating what may come our way in the new year ahead. As a practical outworking of this reflection and anticipation, I encourage you to set aside some time to tidy up your online presence. And perhaps even encourage others around you to do the same.

A couple of things got me to thinking about this as a worthwhile endeavor for the holidays, when most of us in the education world on are a break and can devote some time to the project.


Educators Under a Social Media Microscope

Courtesy of morguefile.com

Social media and its uses are fascinating to me, and as a result I often read stories of how educators making controversial choices in their use of social media put their jobs in jeopardy. The moral turpitude clause in our contracts leaves us more vulnerable than many other professions. The story of Ashley Payne is particularly concerning to me, because unless there are untold details, it seems she lost her teaching job as a result of posting a picture of herself holding (not even drinking) an alcoholic beverage and taking part in a trivia contest that had a profanity in its title. Most concerning was the fact that this young woman had fairly tight "friends only" privacy settings on her Facebook account; someone copied this information from her profile and anonymously submitted it to her principal. She had taken the precautions educators are continuously counseled to take, and it still wasn't enough.

Ashley's story began in 2009. As recently as October 2011, Ashley is still in court trying to get back her job or monetary compensation.

I read of Ashley's story through two ISTE articles, which are well worth reading for educators concerned with protecting their jobs as much as possible in times when teaching positions are becoming more scarce due to cuts in funding at the federal and state levels. You'll see in these articles that issues with teacher online conduct are not unique to K-12, but have affected professors in higher education as well.

• Educators' Use of Social Media May Cost Jobs
• Teachers Beware! The Dark Side of Social Networking

Facebook Timeline Makes Our Online History More Accessible Than Ever

At about the same time I was reading of Ashley Payne, I became more aware of Facebook's new profile layout called Timeline. After glancing at articles about it over the past few months, I decided to give it a try on my personal profile. I realized quickly that this new layout for Facebook profile pages makes everything you or anyone else has ever posted on your Facebook wall/profile infinitely more available than it ever has been before. The information has always been there, but if you were really digging into someone's Facebook past, you had to scroll endlessly to get to it. Now, if someone has activated their timeline, I can just click on 2008, then March, and see exactly what they were documenting online at that time in their lives. It's extremely simple.

I can see some Facebook users thinking this is no big deal. The ones who stay educated on privacy settings have nothing to worry about, right? How quickly we forget the lesson of Ashley Payne, who had her profile set to private, and had information leaked from it anyway.

While I've aimed most of this information at educators who need to take extra precautions in the social media realm, what about teens who have posted without care and without paying attention to privacy settings for several years? Or friended people whom they don't really know in person? How might their future educations and careers be affected by their profiles being much easier for others to scour?

Fortunately, with a little education, you can clean up your Facebook Timeline before it goes public. And it will go public for everyone eventually. A quick search of Facebook help reveals that folks can opt in early, or simply wait until Facebook decides to move you to the Timeline setup.

I would encourage you to opt in now, while you have some time to go back through and hide or delete posts you don't want your friends or anyone else to see. And if there are others in your life who use Facebook, help them do the same. When you activate your timeline voluntarily, you have seven days where you can see it and work on it before anyone else sees it. Why not take that time now, instead of waiting until you are forced into it?

Activating your Timeline now is a perfect opportunity to tidy up anything that was perhaps posted in haste or which could be misconstrued or misused by others.When you first activate your Timeline, Facebook steps you through a little tour of all of its components. This article, Your Guide to the New Facebook Timeline Privacy Settings, is also an excellent resource which details all of the changes to the privacy settings that come with Timeline and also shows you how to delete and hide content from the Timeline. It is very thorough and includes screen shots. Another good article: Prep for Facebook's Timeline Layout: 6 Must-Do Privacy Tweaks.

If you are in a position to talk with your own children or other young people about their Facebook presence, Polishing the Student's Image on Facebook Timeline provides good ideas for how to give context to the importance of cleaning up your online image. My favorite quote from the article:

Know your brand. Everything you post online says something about you. Ensure that is a message you want to convey.

Remember Your Other Digital Footprints, Too

Courtesy of morguefile.com

Facebook is a common location for us, but there is also YouTube, Flickr, Twitter - the list of where we display our digital selves is endless. Unlike footprints in the snow or sand, online footprints do not disappear with a change in external conditions. They must be cultivated by their owners.

While you are tidying up your online presence, don't forget to visit some of those places where you, or others, have been contributing to your online image. In today's world, your online image equals your image as a person, so make sure it is representing you the way in the way you want to be seen and in a light that will open doors of opportunity for you in the future.

Leaving Tumblr

This is a cross-post from my soon-to-be-gone Tumblr blog, with a few minor revisions to make it make sense here.

Photo Used Under a Creative Commons License
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bossco/2670450616/

Well, I gave Tumblr a try. For all the things I like about it, which include the ease of posting small snipits of interest without doing a full blown blog post, I cannot get past the amount of clean-up I constantly have to do regarding spammers and pornographers who "like" my posts.

It makes PLN building not so fun. When someone likes one of my posts, I click on them to see who they are and what they're about, to see if I should follow them back because they might add value to my learning. I'm quite frankly disgusted at the number of times those links have led to pornography.

I will also never recommend using Tumblr with K-12 students or in K-12 settings.

In an effort to continue expanding and contributing to my PLN, I have started a Facebook page. If you feel things I shared on Tumblr were of value to you, I invite you to check out the page and join me there if you like.

https://www.facebook.com/EdTechSandyK

And, my original EdTechSandyK blog (which you are currently reading) and Twitter presence will continue on as well:

http://edtechsandyk.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/EdTechSandyK

I will be deleting the Tumblr blog at some point in the near future. I've enjoyed learning with and from the legit folks who have interacted with me there, and I hope to connect with them again in one of my other online spaces.

Facebook for Professional Learning

If you're reading this post, I'm going to assume you are an active reader of blogs or Twitter or both. Are you also leveraging Facebook for your professional learning?

Many of the educators and educational organizations you follow through Twitter or on blogs are also maintaining pages on Facebook. If you log in to Facebook and "Like" their page, you can get their updates in your news feed, right along with all of the life updates your friends are posting. I often benefit from following professional organizations on Facebook because I might miss their latest update in my Twitter stream where I follow over 400 people, but in scrolling through the day's posts on Facebook, I can find their latest news easily. Frequently, there are also great conversations around their posts on Facebook which I learn from.

Here are a few of the pages I follow on Facebook for professional and technology learning. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check them out!

• Cool Cat Teacher
• Edutopia
• ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)
• TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association)
• Verizon Thinkfinity
• OnGuardOnline
• Kim Komando

You may also want to search Facebook for other organizations you belong to or are invested in, such as your teacher's professional organization/union or charities you support. Facebook can become a "one stop shop" for keeping up with your personal and professional interests as well as your friends.

If you know of any other great educational technology pages to follow on Facebook, please share them in the comments. Thanks!

8/14/11 Update: I've been wanting to experiment with the creation of Facebook pages myself, so today I launched a page of my own. If you are interested in the things I share on my blog, you might be interested in "liking" my Facebook page also. 

Educators - Be Careful What You Post Online

I follow with interest the stories of educators whose careers have been damaged or even lost because of an indiscreet post they make online. Or in some cases an indiscreet post someone else makes about them or shares from their profile. It remains to be seen how this Georgia teacher's case will pan out (unless I have missed a resolution somewhere in my research).

We can debate the ethics of teachers and social media and where the line of appropriate vs. inappropriate should be drawn, but in the end, the fact remains that for now even content posted on a private online profile can get you in trouble.

I follow these stories to stay informed myself and because in my position I am often asked about this topic. So in my most recent master's degree class when we received a group project assignment to create a public service announcement (PSA), I proposed the topic of reminding teachers to be careful what they post online. I have seen many resources for reminding kids to be careful of these things, but not as many examples for the grown-ups. My project group agreed it was a timely topic and worked to produce what I think is not a bad PSA for a group of video editing novices.

I hope this video might serve as a conversation starter for educators on this important topic. Please share it  if you think it will be useful in your sphere of influence. Also, please share in the comments if you have other resources for discussing this important topic with educators.

If you have an interest in this topic, you might also want to visit earlier posts I have made here and here.




This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Editing and/or remixing are prohibited.

More on Social Networking Guidelines for Educators

A couple of months ago I posted ten social networking guidelines for educators that I had come up with in response to a request from colleagues in my district. Today I came across some more detailed guidelines in the making. One is a blog with several thoughtful comments, and the other a wiki that is being collaboratively created. A great amount of detail in both and much food for thought.

Guidelines for Educators Using Social Networking Sites
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2009/8/7/guidelines-for-educators-using-social-networking-sites.html

Social Media Guidelines for Schools
http://socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com/

Top 10 Social Networking Guidelines for Educators Who Wish to Keep Their Career Intact

I put this together about two months ago at the request of some educational technology professionals I know who were curious about boundaries when it comes to what to post and do on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. I tweaked it just this week to present to a group of elementary (K-5) teachers. I'm not a lawyer or legal expert, but based on my observations over the past few years, here's my suggestions for teachers, particularly K-12 (but higher ed isn't exempt) who want to participate in social networks but still keep their privacy and their jobs.

1. Investigate the privacy settings on your social networking sites and USE them.

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Knowhttp://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

How To Be Safe Online (MySpace) CBS News Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo3SOb8GFZY

MySpace Safety Tips and Settings
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.viewpage&placement=safety_pagetips&sspage=4


2. Be mindful of what the things you post on your profile say about you – not just words and photos, but groups you belong to, “fun” items posted to your profile, etc. Would you want to discuss those things in person with your boss, students, students’ parents, or co-workers? What first impression does your profile pic give?

Keeping Face on Facebook: CBS News Video
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4906238n%3fsource=search_video

Everyone Video from the Ad Council
http://tinyurl.com/everyonevid


3. If you wouldn’t say it or do it or view it with your grandparent/parent/spouse/child/
students/clergy/boss/coworker, don’t post it anywhere on the Internet (or send it in an email for that matter…)

When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702213_pf.html


4. People’s standards differ – you might not care if people see a photo of you in a bar tossing one back with your after-work attire on, but the people (students, parents, colleagues) who see your profile might care.

Say Cheese: 12 Photos That Should Never Have Been Posted Online
http://www.pcworld.com/article/150920/say_cheese_12_photos_that_should_never_have_been_posted_online.html


5. It’s called the WORLD WIDE web for a reason. Courts have ruled that once you post it on the Internet, you have given up your expectation of privacy.

MySpace Musings Aren’t Private, Appeals Court Rules
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429677896

6. Do not become online friends with students. Yours or anyone else’s. Period. Don’t become online friends with any minors you are not related to.

7. It is OK to not accept someone’s friend request. Or put them in a very limited group in your profile. Don’t succumb to a false sense of guilt!

8. Bashing your current or former workplace, coworkers, or supervisors online is a bad idea. It will bite you in one way or another.

9. Colleges and employers are Googling potential students and employees. Something posted 10 days or 10 years ago can come back to haunt you. Your digital footprint grows larger every year and it really is permanent. (Google yourself occasionally. You might be careful what you post, but are your friends or others careful? Think Michael Phelps.)

Social Networking Sites Can Affect Employment Searches
http://www.esubulletin.com/articles/news/2009/01/29/social-networking-sites-can-affect-employment-sear

10. Your job and/or career may hinge on the decisions you make about what words and photos you post, whom you are friends with online, how well you protect your online profiles, what others post about you, and what kinds of photos you allow to be taken of yourself.

NOTE: I published a brief follow-up to this post in August 2009.


Above List Copyright ©2009 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted for use in educational settings not-for-profit. Please credit the author and let her know you're using it. Permission NOT granted for electronic reposting or publishing in any other medium without written consent of the author.