I must admit that I am fascinated by the growing popularity of Facebook, enough to visit their homepage and to add a site focused on it to my RSS links. I don’t need another link, I should be taking them off, but they continue to capture my interest. I think it is partly from reading about how they can’t seem to find a way to parlay this popularity into big dollars, though the numbers in this article $1.5 to $2+ billion impress me.
I also don’t have a Facebook page and don’t know that it is important to create one for myself. What do you think? Should a superintendent of a public school system have a Facebook identity? What value added would it bring to me and what are the potential pitfalls? I know that some firms and colleges are using these pages for reference checks, and that it has resulted in people not being hired because of the content on their site. Not a problem for me as I am not looking for work elsewhere, but it does create some dissonance.
I wonder how many staff in our school district have an active page? How many people in our community?
8 comments:
Mike,
In the past few months I broke down and decided to join Facebook. What originally was a way to communicate with some of my old high school friends and current friends, I have found that it has turned in to a huge communication link to my cousins, aunts, uncles, and my brother that I would otherwise only talk to once a year at the annual Christmas gathering. Socially it is a very interesting though, as I have found myself becoming friends with many people and the "status updates" put me into people's personal lives in way that I find not only interesting but on the other hand invasive and at times way more personal then I would want to know about people I work with, go to church with, or otherwise was only friends with in high school. Being able to access someone's profile brings you into all the aspects of their lives including likes, dislikes, at times up to the minute updates, and even the up to the minute relationship status' at times.
Would it be appropriate for a superintendent to have a Facebook page? Yes. Would I bring "my boss" into my Facebook world? Probably not...there are a lot of things on my Facebook I would not necessarily want to share with that audience.
I have comtemplated many times over the past few months whether I would stick with Facebook or cancel due to the exponential growth of friends and networking that Facebook creates. Through this I have everyone from old teacher's of mine, colleagues, family, college friends, high school friends, and even three of my babysitters from my childhood.
Facebook is very interesting and in my 2 or so months of experience on it has been both rewarding to catch up with people and also time consuming as it can be slightly addicting.
Well anyway, I am off to check my Facebook page and see what everyone is doing.
Scott
I agree with Scott. It can be addicting. I enjoy looking at photos and reading about what is new in the lives of my family and close friends. But at the same time I feel strange seeing and reading some of the things they put on their pages. I don't think people realize or remember that when they post photos or videos and write comments that as their friend I get notices.
You become "friends" with people that you don't really know/remember because you don't want to decline their invite. Before you know it you have this massive list of friends. You don't communicate with the majority of them. You read their status updates and ask yourself, "Why do I care if you are getting ready for bed?" But then you find yourself posting the same type of status update.
I'm not sure what it is that keeps me going back for more. Is it because it's the cool new thing? Is it because I want to "communicate" with family and friends? Is it communicating when all I'm doing is reading what they post? I don't really know but for now I will continue to maintain my profile and possibly scale down my friends list.
To answer your question, I searched Tahoma School District and there were 284 results.
I've been on facebook for hmm... over 4 years now. I actually just gave it up for lent because I would spend hours a day on it (while doing other things--like TV or talking to my husband or whatever) and I wanted to reclaim that time.
I agree with almost everything Scott mentioned, but I'll add that I would "friend" my boss on facebook. In fact, what could be considered worse than friending your boss on fb would be friending your students on fb and I have over 100 previous/current students as my "friend" on fb. In fact, today in class a student said to me "I just joined facebook and friend requested you but you haven't accepted" and I had to tell him how I gave it up for lent and I'd accept after Easter.
They way I look at it is that I don't do bad things, in fact, sometimes I do cool things and if that gets students to relate to me, why not let them friend me? After all, I'm a person, not just a teacher.
Some success stories:
- I've had students post comments on pictures of my abroad travels, ask me questions in class about my travels because of the pictures they've seen, and numerous students who are continuously asking me about what my next adventures are because of what they read on my fb
- I have students write on my wall about things we need to talk about (assignments, upcoming field trips, things left in my room)
- Former students message me about how college is going, asking about how classes are going for me this year, letting me know when they might stop by the classroom to say hi...
- I even had a student decide to donate to LLS because she saw on my facebook that I was doing some charity events
- I've even had a students write in her fb status how she was planning on dropping out of school, which then turned into a conversation between us about her future
Of course I do take some precautions:
- All my students (as well as a few other select individuals) are on a limited profile where they can't see my status updates, my contact information, or pictures that other people tag of me.
Facebook allows you to keep connected to people and I couldn't imagine not being a part of it.
Just to clarify when I say that I would not want my boss to my be my Facebook friend, I am not suggesting that I am doing something "bad" that I do not want my boss to see, but what I am saying is that it is my personal life with friends and family, which is why I use Facebook and for me I do not use it with students or my boss but for others that my be a great way to connect.
And just to clarify on my end: I didn't mean to imply that if you wouldn't friend your boss that it means you're doing bad things. I just meant that I personally don't draw many lines between my different lives and so, for me, I find fb a fun tool for connecting with people in all my different social circles.
According to Oprah, if Facebook was a country it would be the 6th largest in the world. Did you know it was created by a Harvard student?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
I just read an article from Forbes that discusses the very subject about Facebooking and CEO's. It is short but interesting.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/social-networking-executives-leadership-managing-facebook.html
I joined Facebook because my adult children were enjoying it so much. I am not addicted, logging on about once a week. I agree with Scott; I find it voyeuristic. After 2 months, I deleted my profile and feel better for it!
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