Many education professionals are familiar with Facebook – whether you teach college students, high school kids or middle schoolers, chances are your students have an active online social life that is often more intricate and noisy than their “real” lives. People of all ages are using Facebook in greater and greater numbers (Facebook has over 500 million users) as a way to keep in touch and share the daily moments of their lives with friends and loved ones – but Facebook can have some downsides as well.
Especially for teachers and education professionals who are in the public eye, it’s important to be careful to keep from sharing too much, or giving the wrong impression, on Facebook.
If you use Facebook, there are a few tips to keep in mind to make sure your online socializing doesn’t lead to real-world problems.
Check your privacy settings. Are you sure you want to broadcast everything to the entire world? Facebook’s default privacy settings might be too open for most people – you might not want to share your birthday, your religious/political views, or other details with just anyone who happens to find you on Google. So before you get started on Facebook (or even if you’re already an active user of the site), spend some time with your Privacy settings and decide what you truly want to share with “Everyone” vs. what you want to limit to “Friends Only.” Public figures, celebrities and journalists usually share everything with everyone – every Facebook post is open for the world to see. But if you’re a private citizen who just wants to have some fun online with your friends, you probably want a more restrictive privacy setting. Not every single thought, photo and witty remark needs to be shared with the entire world.
Don’t talk about work on Facebook. Even if every one of your Facebook posts is limited to just a select group of friends, you should be careful not to divulge any confidential information on Facebook. Even if you change names or omit details, you still might inadvertently reveal too much about a student, a colleague or an administrator.
Don’t complain about your employer on Facebook. When in doubt, leave it out. It’s not worth blowing off steam about a problem-causing student, or complaining about a clueless boss, if it can lead to real consequences at work. Things that you put in writing might be judged more harshly than you intended – and any thoughts you share on Facebook can potentially be shared with others.
Be wary of what you share on Facebook. Even if your privacy settings are limited just to your “Friends,” you still need to be careful about what you say and share. If you post an off-color joke, or link to a video that contains profanity, even if you meant no harm, people might still judge your professionalism based on what you post on Facebook. (This is one reason why many people maintain separate online networks for their friends and for their professional colleagues – you might consider using Facebook just for socializing, and LinkedIn for your career contacts.)
Use customized “Friends” lists to share certain messages with certain groups of friends. Fortunately, Facebook makes it possible to filter your messages down to the finest level of detail. You can share sarcastic comments and bawdy humor with your old college pals, exchange inside jokes with your family, and still preserve your public reputation with colleagues and potential employers.
Ben Gran is a former teacher, freelance writer and marketing consultant based in Des Moines, Iowa. He is an award-winning blogger who loves to write about careers and the future of work.
You won’t find any off-color jokes there, but you will find teaching jobs and other education jobs at http://www.educationjobsite.com/
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