Because I'm often very critical of how I'm being represented and perceived by others, I try extremely hard to maintain a facebook page that is only inclusive of those things I would like people to associate me with. From the friends that I have, to the information I've included about myself, to the comments which are critically and rhetorically analyzed as soon as they are posted (and deleted if I feel it has the potential to be taken the wrong way), to the pictures I post and allow to be tagged in - I try to maintain a profile that is as accurate as possible to the person I hope I have become.
My audience and the way they interpret my page, in a way, is more important to me than anything else. We can never be sure how people are going to/or do interpret the things we say and do, so I use my online profile to further support the ideals/beliefs that I continually try to exhibit on a day to day basis...almost like a primary source in supporting the way in which I'm constructing myself.
The friends that I have on Facebook are inclusive of those who I have a continual relationship with, and those who I truly consider friends (aside from a few that I'm still waiting for the right time to "request friendships with"). The pictures that are included in/on my page are only those which I feel adequate represent the type of person I am, without me feeling like I would have to explain the situation or context. The same can be said for the comments/bio info that is a part of my page. Over the years I've noticed that it is easy for a lot of images/words to be taken out of context and misrepresenting the person and/or situation. In fear of this happening, I take the extra time to care about the "what ifs" even though it is a painstaking and annoying task.
Reading Stephanie Vie's article, "Digital Divide 2.0: 'Generation M' and Online Social Networking Sites in the Composition Classroom", I agree that "clearly there are multiple entry points for bringing online social networking sites into the classroom to help students think about larger societal issues regarding intellectual property, attribution, and marketing" simply due to the ways in which I've created my own Facebook page and the assignment that I know I could construct as a result(16). And at the beginning of the semester, with 51 of the 52 students I instruct, stating that they had Facebook pages - I knew that I had to find a way of incorporating that site into my pedagogy. I ended up creating a separate account solely for English 101, because as an instructor, and student, I'm aware that "these Generation M students [use] online social networking sites in multiple ways: to share class notes and ask questions about homework" as well as the fact that "the majority of Generation M students have embraced online social networking sites, and even those students who chose not to participate in these sites acknowledged the profound influence of MySpace and Facebook on college students' lives" (17). With so many students today using social networking sites for academic purposes, I felt that it would be a disservice to my students not to incorporate it, somehow, into my course.
Sorry I was unable to add a screen shot of my Facebook account (still having trouble uploading images), but here is a url to my page...
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?nm=malcolm+oliver+II
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I'm curious in any possible downsides you see to using Facebook in the classroom? Have you run into any? Do you think you might? Do you think it's always necessarily a good choice? (just nosey)
ReplyDeleteHey Malcolm,
ReplyDeleteI have similar feelings about facebook in terms of what I post and how it may be percieved. I have so many different audiences from different points in my life so it is easy for people to be confused or for them to ask a lot of questions (I guess that I just don't want to deal with it). To avoid all of the confusion, I do not post much on the site. So, I see why you would create another site for your students to view. My question is this: will you friend former students on your personal page? If so, do you think that you would change the way that you acted on the site to maintain a certain persona?