Before I allow this post to devolve into a rant about people's supposed right to privacy on free and optional-to-join websites such as Facebook or Google, I solemnly swear to limit the discussion of said social networking site to one or two paragraphs (Not counting this one or the conclusion).
Samantha MacConnell's opinion piece at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student newspaper, Husna Najand's piece in the UNLV student newspaper, Emily Driscoll's piece on FoxBusiness.com, and all others ad nauseum have been lamenting the difficulties of navigating the private realm online, especially on Facebook. Facebook privacy settings have been the topic of too many articles to name, with the preeminent thesis being, Facebook subverts my right to privacy. This is of course, despite the fact that the primary function of Facebook is to connect people and share content. Ms. MacConnell protests, "What a person does on his or her own time on days off should not be used to judge work ethic because that person may be serious and hard-working when they enter the workplace." At its heart this is well-intentioned, but if you post a picture of yourself doing something dumb(on your Facebook Wall or a real wall), then anyone who sees it should absolutely reserve the right to judge you. YOU put it there. Or, if someone else posts a photo of you doing something dumb, as in the famous case of Michael Phelps that Ms. Najand points out, the fact remains that YOU did it.
My bottom line is, "The Internet is not a private place." Therefore, I ultimately disagree with the protestations of these two college journalists and the advice of any number of finger-wavers and job recruitment experts. I don't think we need to manage our online presence, I think we need to manage our behavior. Even Phelps confessed after his incriminating photo was released that he "was embarrassed" and "it was clearly not what <his> mom wanted." Times have changed. There are cameras everywhere. Everything is connected to the internet.
This is the message that we need to help get across to our students. As usual, Common Craft nails the point in its video, "Protecting Reputations Online." Everything posted online becomes a part of forever. In a world that is more connected than ever, it's important to remind ourselves and our students that everything and anything can have a lasting impact. Scary? Dystopian? Personally, I don't think so. When we first started doing email, we had conversations about how any email written could be permanent and come back to haunt us. So did we put email on "lock down?" Of course not. We started to manage our behavior in the emails we sent. Doing the same thing on sites such as Facebook and blogs can only help us and make us better people in the long run.
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Samantha MacConnell's opinion piece at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student newspaper, Husna Najand's piece in the UNLV student newspaper, Emily Driscoll's piece on FoxBusiness.com, and all others ad nauseum have been lamenting the difficulties of navigating the private realm online, especially on Facebook. Facebook privacy settings have been the topic of too many articles to name, with the preeminent thesis being, Facebook subverts my right to privacy. This is of course, despite the fact that the primary function of Facebook is to connect people and share content. Ms. MacConnell protests, "What a person does on his or her own time on days off should not be used to judge work ethic because that person may be serious and hard-working when they enter the workplace." At its heart this is well-intentioned, but if you post a picture of yourself doing something dumb(on your Facebook Wall or a real wall), then anyone who sees it should absolutely reserve the right to judge you. YOU put it there. Or, if someone else posts a photo of you doing something dumb, as in the famous case of Michael Phelps that Ms. Najand points out, the fact remains that YOU did it.
My bottom line is, "The Internet is not a private place." Therefore, I ultimately disagree with the protestations of these two college journalists and the advice of any number of finger-wavers and job recruitment experts. I don't think we need to manage our online presence, I think we need to manage our behavior. Even Phelps confessed after his incriminating photo was released that he "was embarrassed" and "it was clearly not what <his> mom wanted." Times have changed. There are cameras everywhere. Everything is connected to the internet.
This is the message that we need to help get across to our students. As usual, Common Craft nails the point in its video, "Protecting Reputations Online." Everything posted online becomes a part of forever. In a world that is more connected than ever, it's important to remind ourselves and our students that everything and anything can have a lasting impact. Scary? Dystopian? Personally, I don't think so. When we first started doing email, we had conversations about how any email written could be permanent and come back to haunt us. So did we put email on "lock down?" Of course not. We started to manage our behavior in the emails we sent. Doing the same thing on sites such as Facebook and blogs can only help us and make us better people in the long run.
Hi Jason..I agree. I think that we have to manage our behavior and take responsibility for what we post online and what we email.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I think that we all need to be informed about what is COMMON SENSE to post and not post..but not terrify as I think that the one off stories are always the ones that are going to get the press..but it is a small percentage of people that are losing their jobs, not getting into universities etc.
Great post.
Thanks Maureen. It's definitely important to remember that the vast majority of these one off stories are just that - exceptions.
ReplyDeleteJason, you argue that it is our behaviour that needs management rather than our online presence.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ever-present threat of cameras and swift typing fingers can publicize an error of judgement. The Common Craft film presents this idea in a clear and unambiguous way which is perfect for students to grasp.
As you point out, Facebook is for connecting people and as MacConnell says, "the Internet is public" so we all need to be acutely aware of how our words and actions can take on a life of there own in cyberspace...
We do still need to be aware of what is out there with our name attached. Student pranksters can Photoshop any image to suit their story which could reflect badly on us.
Also we have to be vigilant to the future attempts of Google and Facebook to harvest our information and sell it to the highest bidder.They may have backtracked on this recently, but this is all worth too much money for them to ignore. I fear there will be many more attempts to secretly change the privacy clauses in the small print which they know most of us never read...