December 4, 2007
Facebook: Not Just For Students Anymore
More and more professors are setting up profiles on Facebook, the popular social network that is redefining friendship. After all, being a friend on facebook may or may not involve actual friendship — all it means in the virtual realm with any certainty is that two people have agreed to give each other access to their Facebook pages. Culturally, though, these virtual friendships are starting to mean something on campuses, raising the question of what they mean to professors.
One of the first questions professors face is whether it’s OK to add their students as Facebook friends, as an article in this week’s Chronicle explores.
During recent reporting trips to campuses and conferences, I’ve started to hear that some professors, especially young faculty members eager to build their reputations, are forging professional networks using Facebook and other social-networking tools. Some even convinced me to set up my own profile, and lately I’ve been looking to befriend the most well-connected folks in academe to see how this social networking is spreading. If you’re a professor or graduate student who uses Facebook heavily (and not just to spy on your students), tell us about it in the comments section. Or, send me a friend request. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Tuesday December 4, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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I use Facebook a lot – mainly as a way of exploring WHAT it can be used for. I started to use it to keep up with my own adult child who uses it heavily. I began using it for ME, because I find it is fun to use…I very much like the music application, Pandora, and listen to music on Pandora via Facbook, just about every day. Yesterday, I linked to my first Facebook application that connects me with the world of work. I am not sure I want to mix my personal space and my work space, so we’ll see how that goes and if I will use the “for work” application, when I have to get to it through Facebook.
— Rosemary Du Mont Dec 4, 01:11 PM #
Librarians have been using Facebook since the start to reach patrons and have developed a number of applications and widgets to help students with research. For an example check out my library’s page at http://umt.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7110938932
— Samantha Dec 4, 04:09 PM #
It’s a great way to help with matching faces to names. I work with students constantly, and it’s a quick way to jog my memory as to who is coming into visit. I always let the student initiate the “friend” request.
— Jill Dec 4, 05:05 PM #
I am teaching a course on IT Entrepreneurship and I’m teaching my students to develop Web sites that also have a Facebook application. I setup a Facebook profile, initially for the purpose of the class but now I’m finding old high school classmates via Facebook – how fun! Feel free to request me as a friend.
— Irma Becerra-Fernandez Dec 4, 05:30 PM #
I use Facebook for social networking. I am having fun connecting with childhood and school friends. I don’t plan to add my students to my friend’s list. I use LinkeIn to connect professionally with students and help them connect with others in my professional network.
— Gloria Pereira Dec 5, 08:07 AM #
I use the social networking sites for my personal life. I use www.linkedin.com for my professional network.
— Nicole Finkbeiner Dec 5, 08:10 AM #
I was extremely wary when a colleague whom I hadn’t met suggested a Facebook group for the NEH seminar participants that we would both be in. I had heard about the risk of being embarrassed. But I do not want to be left behind either technologically or culturally, so I did join. I put into my profile only that information that anyone could find on my university’s website. So far two students, one a graduate and one a senior undergraduate, have asked to be my friends. I agreed to allow them to see my limited profile only because I am still leery about exposing myself on line. Two other names that I don’t recognize have asked to be my friends, but I have turned them down.
Perhaps I have been overly cautious, but, so far, I see no benefit for anyone arising from this “social network.”
— PJ Dec 5, 08:25 AM #
It’s not just for faculty anymore either. University staff members are using Facebook too, although it is mostly to connect with one another (in my limited experience).
— Jocelyn Bowie Dec 5, 08:29 AM #
Student Activities/Union/Housing etc have been using it for years to promote events, activities, and other involvement.
As for faculty, I do not allow undergrads to even see my profile at all. When they become alumni and graduate, then they can feel free to add me.
— SMF Dec 5, 08:39 AM #
I am a staff member myself and I think facebook is a lot of fun for connecting with old friends on a personal level. Professionally, as someone who often speaks about the importance of creating a professional brand for yourself, I think it’s important that I model good social networking behavior. So, if a student finds me and sends me a request, I accept it. I do not add any students myself, although I will add other staff and faculty.
— SM Dec 5, 09:36 AM #
I began using Facebook because I was curious about this site that my students were obsessed with. I was hesitant to add students as friends but I learned they enjoyed the informal venue for getting in touch with me. I teach Spanish and found that students liked to leave me comments & conversations to test & practice their Spanish without evaluation.
I also found it was a great site for setting up a Group for our study abroad group. They could easily post questions/comments of all types and it made it easy to keep friends & family back home up to date with pictures etc.
On the flipside, I am more professional on my Facebook page than I normally would tend to be knowing that students are viewing my page and all activities via the ‘mini-feed’.
— MBO Dec 5, 09:43 AM #
Not to use Facebook means missing out on a relatively effective marketing tool. Consider Facebook a professional vehicle to reach students and communicate with professionals at other universities and organizations.
— SB Dec 5, 10:13 AM #
I am glad to see this discussion. I created a profile at the prompting of an old high school friend, who is also a professor, mostly because I wanted to better understand what the fuss was about. I keep my profile as private as possible, and so far have limited “friends” to those (mostly students) who have made the initial contact. Surprisingly, it has been a great way to keep up with recent graduates as they start their careers!
— Cutler-Lake Dec 5, 12:30 PM #
I love Facebook! Mostly it has become a terrific way to keep up with students who have graduated and moved on, and with college and grad school friends around the country (and the world!). I do have quite a few current students who are friends, but only ones who requested it – I haven’t friended any current students on my own. It’s a great way to contact current students and get around our terrible student email system, and know that they will actually read it. And since students are using Facebook to let people know about happenings on campus (rather than email and flyers – both old technology to this generation) I often only hear about events I want to attend through Facebook. I even have downloaded some of the applications, including SuperPoke, which is a constant source of fun for my students (they love throwing barnyard animals at me). As long as my profile page is professional enough (although I do list my favorite books and movies) and my personal conduct with students is clear, there are no problems with students not knowing where the line is. Used judiciously, it’s a great contact tool.
— SK Dec 5, 12:33 PM #
The comments here are all fairly positive and upbeat.
Funny, I ask a lot of first year students what they think of faculty and staff looking at their Facebook pages. They are aghast. There is a certain sense of privacy they’ve come to associate with these tools.
As a parent of two teens, they, too, seem to think that this is not for adult viewing. When I told them I had my own Facebook, they said ‘ew!’
While many of us may think this is a cool way to communicate with students, there is an entire generation of students coming to our campuses that have come of age with these tools. They are not used to prying eyes of adults, much less professors, police and administrators.
All of that said, I think one of the most salient issues is this: this generation of students is developing eportfolios. With the social networking tools, they may be more social at first, but honed and refined, these practices can turn into professional electronic portfolios which will serve them well as they prepare for careers.
— Dwight Fischer Dec 6, 09:01 AM #
Another librarian chiming in. I use Facebook, but not for any interaction with students. Our library doesn’t have a Facebook presence, either, thought I know a lot of academic libraries do.
I use it to keep in touch with MY high school and college friends, many of whom are librarians or professors at other institutions across the country, as well as with colleagues I’ve met and become friends with.
The only students I’ve friended are my younger cousins. Gotta keep an eye on them! :-)
— INTPLibrarian Dec 6, 09:17 AM #
I think this is a good idea….the only thing better would be if they could block students who use their own laptaps in class from accessing these sites during class lectures! It is unbelievalbe the number of students that surf myspace and facebook during classtime rather than focusing on class! I’m not for an all out internet access ban, but it would be great if they could somehow block students trying to access those addresses on the college or university’s wifi set up.
— Kim Dec 6, 12:35 PM #
I personally think that professors should not be allowed / just should not in general set up Facebook accounts and friend students in their classes. I think it would be cool and make a college more personable if you could be more connected with the professors, just i believe Facebook is not the way to do it. Like whats the point? are you gonna be like commenting on my Facebook “wall” being like “hey whats up?” like if its about homework or something they can just send an email. This is also a bad idea because personally Facebook make me feel free to post WHATEVER i want and if professors are on it, ill feel like i have someone over my shoulder and i wont be able to post what i want. Like for example i couldn’t go to a friend “hey where are you drinking tonight?” worry about my professor seeing it and thinking negatively about me or him tell the campus police about under age drinking. So i think that idea is a no go.
— Nick Dec 6, 03:59 PM #
I don’t see any reason for professors not to be on Facebook. It is a tool that anyone should be able to use, and that includes profs. It has been very useful for me to use to network and share information with others in my field. That said, I would never initiate a friend request to a student. so far I have one student as a friend, but that person is also an employee, so it is a little different.
— Ed C. Dec 7, 12:06 PM #
I also use Facebook, though I’ve done it more to connect professionally and with high school and college friends from long ago. I have a few ex-students as “friends,” all of whom sent requests to me. I’m not sure if I’ll use it with current students, but I do think social networking sites are important in online communication today. Professors, especially in communication and composition, should have at least an idea of what they’re about. The easiest way to do this is to log on.
Now if only we could get Ms. Mentor would agree that it’s not just an adolescent “playground” (http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i07/07c00301.htm ).
— anonymous Dec 9, 09:19 PM #
Faculty need to use care when they enroll in a social networking site. I have removed or blocked more and more Facebook apps lately. Some of the apps have tasteless or weird titles, after all.
— Bill Sodeman Dec 19, 09:55 PM #
I avoided Facebook for a long time; I spend too much time online already. But at a recent conference, I found that many of my colleagues use Facebook to stay in touch, and a few of the professional organizations I want to stay most connected with use it. So I decided it was time.
I don’t initiate friend requests with students, but I do accept requests from students — present or past — that I know.
I also started a group for the students in my department, since one didn’t already exist. As someone else mentioned, students check Facebook a lot more frequently than they check email. It’s a good place for general departmental announcements. Unfortunately, I expect students will flee to another venue as Facebook becomes more “professionalized.”
I have also found some old friends out there. I’m trying — I don’t know how successfully — to keep the personal communications limited to private posts and private groups.
— Tery Dec 20, 02:00 AM #