College Central

Stay Connected Using Social Media

So you are off to college.  Whether you live on campus or off, social media is a great way to stay connected with your friends and keep your social network intact. In your new environment, while you’ll want to maintain established friendships, it can be difficult to make new “in person” friends when everyone is texting on their phones!

Most colleges institute a “device free” policy for orientations.  Orientations are a time when you can meet new people and begin to develop friendships, an opportunity lost to those who spend their free moments digitally.  That being said, it can still be hard to develop new friendships when you meet new people.  Social media can be of help here.  One young adult on the autism spectrum reports “I try to talk to people, but I am concerned I might say something wrong or make a fool of myself” (Schultz & Jacobs, 2012, p. 22).  After meeting people, he uses social media to develop relationships online, which helps him feel more comfortable when he interacts with them in person.  He finds it helpful that he doesn’t have to concentrate on making eye contact online, and that people are more accepting of who he is when they get to know him online first.

Another way to connect with people is to construct meaningful relationships around common interests.   Activities that are both group online and in-person allow a group of like-minded individuals to work together towards a common goal.  An example of this is the Pokémon Go app (and other online games) where people meet in person to play an online game.  Colleges often have technology clubs where formal and informal gaming networks are established.  Schultz, Jacobs and Schultz (2013) report that these types of clubs provide ways to strengthen ties with others, and can be useful for individuals when in-person relationship building does not come naturally.  The predictability of online interactions can alleviate social anxiety and help individuals on the autism spectrum feel more connected with peers. 

Yet, social media can be a black hole for time.  Any social media user will admit that there have been instances where he was just going to check one thing, and suddenly two hours later, he is wondering where the time went!  Social media distractions can easily get in the way of academics.

Some tips for time management include:

• Mute your device so you are not tempted to check it every time it pings
• Set a timer and when the allotted time is up, switch to the academic task at hand
• Turn off your device or store it away. You can also reward yourself by using your device after you complete your academic task.

Sometimes, social media is used to support your academic program.  College professors have begun to incorporate Facebook, Blogs, and sites like Pinterest into the college classroom.  This of course depends on your major and your college professor.  Many use Facebook groups for class projects, event sharing, building professional networks that may include subject matter experts, and for cohorts just to get to know each other.  Frequently, students, independent from course instructors, set up “teacher-free” Facebook groups, where students can ask clarifying questions about assignments, get reminders about due dates, help each other out, and sometimes just vent about topics like the workload.   This kind of networking can be supportive but keep in mind that on any social media site, there are individuals who are observers who read others’ posts but don’t comment themselves.  Don’t vent about classmates, or assume that because a person is not active on social media, they are not seeing what is posted.  This is where your mother’s advice comes in handy—if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

When using social media, there are cautions to keep in mind.  Sometimes, virtual worlds can seem like a much safer place than the real world, and subsequently, we let our guard down. 

Keep Your Personal and Professional Lives Separate

I recommend to my college students (and to my own children) to use a pseudonym like Imaginary McGee or Cinnamon Butterscotch.  Have two social media sites, one for personal business and one for professional interactions.  Having a second social media site with a pseudonym known only to your informal (friend and acquaintances) social network sounds like it would solve the problem of keeping your informal network apart from your professional life.  To a degree, it does, but if your friends tag you in pictures using your real name, it offers little protection.  Just because you know what not to post on your site doesn’t mean that your friends will comply.  Ask and remind them to get your consent before posting and tagging pictures of you with your real name.  Periodically check by searching your name, and removing unflattering pictures.  “Sometimes what happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas.”

Hide Your Digital Dirt

That being said, “You can’t un-ring a bell.”  If there are compromising pictures or negative information about you floating about cyberspace, there are steps you can take to address that.  Digital dirt is information that may have a negative impact on you personally or professionally. If you have “digital dirt,” do your best to have it get lost or buried in positive digital information.  Butera (2016) reminds us that once something is posted on the internet, it is likely to remain there permanently.  She provides tips for removing a page from Google, removing content from Google, and how to contact a site’s webmaster (see link below).

Your professional social media page allows you to create your professional image.  It is important to do this well in advance of job hunting, as your employer will be looking for a history of who you are.  A candidate who has a well-established professional persona will be seen as more solid than one who throws a page together right before an interview.   Often, employers make their first impression before they even meet you!  It’s best to avoid polarizing issues such as politics on your professional site.  Avoid speaking negatively about previous employers or internships, as it will make employers and internship sponsors wonder what you will say about them. Fill your professional page with rich images that showcase your passion for your profession.

When posting pictures, double check to make sure the observer can’t scroll through all of your pictures.  You want observers in your professional life to see the picture of you working at the community shelter.  You don’t want them to scroll to the previous picture and see a picture of you in a kangaroo suit at a party, or with the world’s largest rubber duck.  I know of more than one person who lost an internship or job offer due to compromising pictures that they did not intend to be viewed by those in the professional realm.  There are several ways to tackle this problem.  You can use a snipping tool to make a copy of just the picture or the part of the picture you want to highlight.  Or, you can make a copy of the picture, save it to your desk top, and then post just that picture. 

Privacy

Many social media sites like Facebook have privacy settings for photo albums you create. You can choose who sees your photos by using the audience selector, as described in this link (https://www.facebook.com/help/385017548218624/).  On Facebook, keep in mind that your profile and cover photo are always visible to the public.  Snapchat also allows you to set permissions for who can “see your story.”  If you select “everyone,” then everyone can see your post.  You can customize your snaps blocking some friends from seeing them.  However, using the “live” setting allows everyone to see your posts.  All of that said, there is no way to guarantee that individuals won’t share some of your items, or that your items are “temporary.”  Beyond breaking Snapchat etiquette with screen captures, your information is also susceptible to hackers.  Avoid connecting less secure, third party applications to your social media accounts.

Most of us do not bother reading the terms, and what is private today may not be private tomorrow, as terms and conditions are always subject to change. Most social media sites indicate that there is no guarantee of privacy, and you do not have ownership of anything you post.  Snapchat terms and conditions state that the app can “store and share any photo” published in the application.  The term “temporary” provides an illusion that what you posted is gone forever, providing a false sense of security to the user.   It is the user’s responsibility to constantly check and familiarize him or herself with the settings for the social media being used. 

Summary

Knowing how to use and being comfortable with using social media before you get to a college environment can be helpful academically.  Participation in a social media site can provide networking, organizational support and be a place to interact with classmates.  Socially, it can help you maintain and receive support from previous friends while branching out and developing connections with new peers. 

However, remember that nothing posted on the internet is guaranteed to be private, so post appropriately.  With a quick screen shot, people can easily repost your content elsewhere.  Taking a few minutes now to monitor your privacy settings and to think through the consequences of sharing information can save your reputation, create the image you want to create, and keep your personal and private lives separate.

References and Resources

Butera, G. (2016).  E-Professionalism:  Social media resources:  Cleaning up your digital dirt.  George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library.  Retrieved from:  http://libguides.gwumc.edu/c.php?g=27787&p=170414

Schultz, S. & Jacobs, G. (2012).  The social magic of Facebook for  adults on the spectrum. Autism Asperger’s Digest, 22-23.

Schultz, S., Jacobs, G., & Schultz, M.  (2013).  A promising practice:  Using facebook as a communication and social networking tool.  Rural Special Education Quarterly, 32(4), 38-44. 

Susan M. Schultz, EdD., is an associate professor and graduate program director at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, where she teaches in the Inclusive Education Department.  Her research interests include autism, twice-exceptional students, and postsecondary transition for students with disabilities.