What, you mean that other people could look at my FaceBook?
I was at a lecture into online journalism yesterday and we were discussing blogs, the rise of the ‘new trade press’ (expert bloggrs) and how journalists fit into all of this.
We got sidetracked and started talking about social networks and then someone piped up with “But it is my FaceBook and I don’t want employers to be able to see pictures of me doing….”
Cropped up in an article in the Guardian called Online investigations into job candidates could be illegal (been catching up on some reading today) and people are talking about the same things.
Is it illegal for people to look around a social network? The regulators think not.
On private closed sites where you can invite only the people you want this may be a problem, but Facebook et al are not private (Or are they? Never quite sure about that one.).
The lecturer at the session had a simple answer – common sense. Stuff will be around the net forever, so don’t post it. Do we need to see you being sick in a gutter wearing a condom on your head, while gurning like a buffoon? I think not (the mirror is good enough for me).
So, implications for education then? Should we be ‘friends’ with our students in FaceBook etc or should we be looking at separate groups.
There are things about colleagues and students I don’t wish to know, so I don’t ask. Groups seems the way forward at the moment, but we’ll wait and see on that one
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Tags: FaceBook, social network, privacy, Guardian, blog