Social Networking Software
I. Introduction:
- a) Mary Snyder and Laurie Garris
- b) Introduction to Social Networking Software
- Facebook has over 7.5 million users
- MySpace has approximately 87 million users
- “A student’s personal Facebook page is usually a revealing, dynamic chronicle of campus life- - One clearly not meant for the eyes of parents, teachers, or anyone else older than 25.” [*]
- They’re available to anyone who really wants to see it.
II. Dangers of MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, etc.
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a) To personal safety
- Threats to personal safety are very serious for teenagers, but internet predators and cyberbullies can still affect college students as well.
- Unlike old-school chat rooms, a stranger can learn a lot about you through your profile without ever talking to you. [*]
- There is a case in Boulder County of an alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman who said she met her attacker through a mutual friend on MySpace. [*]
- There is a case in Washington state of a man who met a woman on MySpace. He eventually broke into her house and raped her [*]
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b) To college and athletic career
- a. All over the country (Elon College, Catholic University, Northwestern University, Wake Forest, University of Iowa, North Carolina State, Emory University…), students are being kicked out of school and off athletic teams because of what they have posted on social networking sites, particularly for underage drinking. [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
- b. Most administrators don’t patrol sites, but feel an obligation to act if they stumble upon something. At Susquehanna, fraternities have been known to rat out rival frats to administrators. [*]
- c. Professors have been known to find comments students have been written about them (my graduate school professors would go so far as to hack into password-protected blogs to see what was written about them).
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c) Future job prospects
- a. Recruiters are Googling potential interviewees and looking for them in social networking sites to get a better idea of who they are. [*]
- b. One survey found that 1/3 of employers ran job applicants names through search engines, 12% said they look at social networking sites. [*
- Images (graphic or textual) of underage or binge drinking, illegal drugs, tatoos, sexual excapades, and other irresponsible decisions may affect job opportunities. [*] [*]
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d) Keeping a job
- a. People are getting fired because of negative things (and occasionally for positive things) they have said about their boss or company or for sharing confidential information. While the First Amendment protects free speech, it doesn’t protect you from the consequences of such speech… unless you work for the government (still…). [*] [*]
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e) With law enforcement
- a. Police are monitoring theses sites more and more and using them to identify crime suspects. [*] [*] [*]
- b. A student trying to get a campus security guard fired wrote “[he] needs to be eliminated.” Other students interpreted the words as threatening and the student was expelled. [*]
- c.A University of Oklahoma student made a joke about assassinating President Bush and got a visit from the Secret Service. [*]
- d. Students at Penn State were punished for rushing a football field. Police used Facebook pictures to identify guilty students. [*]
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e) Internet archiving
- a. “The Web may seem ephemeral, but what you casually post one night may just last a digital eternity.” [*]
- b. Even after you get rid of pictures and blog entries, they may still lurk on the internet, or people may have saved them. When you post information, you lose control of it.
- c. The Wayback machine from Archive.org (who has a goal of archiving the whole internet) is also being used in court cases. [*]
III. Safety Precautions
- a) Put anything private behind password protected walls so that only your friends can see it, though remember this is not fool-proof. [*]
- b) Remember that what you post online stays online forever, so “thinkb4uClick!” [*]
- c) Show your friends courtesy by being careful about what you say and show about them in your blog. Their future employers may find what you wrote. [*]
- d) Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say offline. [*]
- e) Don’t use your full name. When broadcasting your uncensored thoughts, complete anonymity is highly recommended, not just in your profile, but in all entries. For more information, go here: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php
IV. How to use it in a job search
- a) Why?
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b) Tips
- a. Only include professional and academic information
- b. Don’t post anything unless it’s relevant to the position/career you’re interviewing for
- c. Some ideas for your job search blog: your career interests, industry trends, news, answers to basic interview questions like “Give an example of when you were intuitive”, keep a blog of the positive experiences and what you’ve learned throughout a related internship.
- d. Avoid negativity. You can acknowledge negative parts of your field, but avoid saying bad things about your school, professors, classmates, supervisors, etc. Future employers may wonder what you’ll broadcast about them if they were to hire you.
- e. A blog can keep an informal style, but since you’re being judged by this, carefully go over spelling and grammar.
- f. Don’t give out your date of birth, social security number, salary expectations, etc. Also avoid answering questions about your religion, children, marital status, political views, etc.
- g. Carefully consider how appropriate a picture is. It may open you up to discrimination issues.
- h. ALWAYS, ALWAYS be aware of who might read your blog and how what you write may be interpreted.
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c) Using MySpace/Facebook
- a. Example of MySpace
- b. Example of Facebook
- d) Create your own website
This cartoon is from the Cincinnati Enquirer, and can be found at http://borgman.enquirer.com/weekly/daily_html/2007/08/081707borgman.html