Student affairs professionals strive to provide the space and support for students to create authentic identities. But are we being true to our own identities with how we use social media? Do you have a Twitter account but keep it locked so Tweets can't be viewed publicly? Do you not accept any Facebook friend requests until students graduate? I encourage you to explore the importance of developing an authentic social media identity and the significance that has on developing trusting, meaningful relationships with our students in a rapidly changing digital environment.
Student affairs professionals of a certain age are able to tell stories about the mistakes they made as students - years of life experience coupled with years of watching students navigate life experience allow for some clarity and also some carefully-crafted conversations about decision-making. I made plenty of mistakes as a college student and most memories of those mistakes just live happily tucked somewhere deep in my brain. I talk about these experiences with students from time to time, offering up information that can leave me vulnerable but that also lets students know that I did not have an entirely different experience than they are having. Regardless of my level of detail in sharing stories, what I have are mostly memories - I didn't attend college in the age of Facebook or smartphones - it was only 10 years ago, but not even everyone had cell phones and almost nobody had digital cameras yet (can you believe such a time existed!) Students now may have their transgressions catalouged in cyberspace for all to see. This forces us to have a different type of conversation with students, one that we maybe don't know how to have.
Sir Ken Robinson delivered a talk that has become an interesting live animation video (http://edudemic.com/2011/10/students-of-the-future/) that discusses the shifting ideas of education and the different world in which our students will ultimately live. One of the interesting ideas in this is the question of how do we prepare students to work with technologies that have yet to be invented? How do we prepare them for jobs that don't yet exist? I think this is a vital part of our ability to have conversations with students - we need to understand that what we don't know is more valuable than what we do know right now. It's easy to say "Don't post those pictures on Facebook!" but we are now telling this to students who have been on Facebook for a DECADE already. This is the only way of sharing and knowing that they have experienced - so it's not as easy as saying STOP! It requires some leading by example - an idea we push on our students on a daily basis.
We as student affairs professionals are past that stage in our life of posting inappropriate pictures or terrible comments (well, we SHOULD be…) so what’s the risk? Are we afraid we’ll say something offensive? If so, perhaps our problem is that we are not being genuine in the workplace - a far bigger problem. Are we afraid we are boring? Maybe it’s okay to show students that their perception of “boring” is actually a healthy balanced lifestyle. And share your small victories! Students ALWAYS hear about the negatives of posting information online - reinforce that posting the positives can be a great outlet, particularly when it's positive aspects of your job or your institution.
Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) has done some great work promoting social media/social networking and technology in student affairs and higher education. Stoller wrote a blog entry for Inside Higher Education last fall about Digital Identity Development (Stoller http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/digital-identity-development ). This is an important piece in a pretty limited area of literature around college student development intersecting with digital identity formation.
Stoller says "Institutions should be teaching students about the importance of context in online communications, the fluidity of privacy, awareness of nuance, and the power of community-building through social media." Just as we take ownership of educating students on life outside the classroom in the physical world on campus, we need to take ownership of promoting and developing skills in the digital world. Students who have been using Facebook since they were in middle school are prime for the next step in developing - shifting the cognitive understanding of how to use these online tools to understand or re-think the power of social media and social networking.
Stoller also says that "Social media sites promote sharing. Good, bad, or ugly, we share a lot of our lives online these days. However, it’s important to note that social media are not the cause of our behavior, they are merely the public conduit. Acknowledging mistakes and dissonance is an important aspect of digital identity. Individual development, after all, takes time." Just as student conduct systems have moved from punitive models to restorative justice models, we need to move our conversations about appropriate or accepted sharing via social networking in the same direction. This is how development happens.
In order to shape those conversations with students, however, we need to be aware of our own identities and the balance involved in sharing information publicly. We must be genuine with what we share and how we share online so that students see us as role models for healthy online presence.
Authenticity is the projecting of one’s identity/indentities – and we live in a society where things are continuously accessible and our students expect us to conform to their ways of being, so it’s a matter not just of projection but of amplification. The way we have interacted and shared is projection. Adapting to new technologies to share who we are is the amplification. If we don’t adapt we run the risk of being viewed as inaccessible and unapproachable. Be authentic with your digital identity - it is a part of who you are and it needs care and development just like all other aspects of your self.
A few suggestions:
1. Be yourself. Tweet about the things that matter to YOU. Edit appropriately, but be real.
2. Don't just retweet stuff. Say original things. People notice.
3. Mention people (especially students). They love it. I found a great way to pick up steam and followers was to thank each individual person who followed with a shout-out. Oldest trick in the (digital) book, but it works every time.
4. Talk about your work. Mention your institution in positive ways, brag about people and programs, let the world know you are invested in what you are doing.
5. Be mindful of who you represent. If you are using an office/department account (i.e. @Gustie_ResLife), keep it to updates and items relevant to the purpose of the office/department or what is happening on campus. You should still be engaging and interesting, but understand the audience. If you are using your personal account, keep in mind you still represent your office/department.
6. Frequency does not equal quality - on either end of the spectrum. Tweeting every five minutes can be overkill, even if it seems worthwhile. And only tweeting once a month is okay to do if you have great things to say once a month, but it might keep you off the radar too long. Find your sweet spot of balancing "productive and helpful" with "fun." Most importantly - keep your presence felt.
Give it a shot and jump into being your authentic self in the digital world. And you can not fake authenticity. Be you. The world – and your students – will appreciate it.
Thoughts? Comments? Find me on Twitter @pottscharlie
Credit: Stoller (2012) http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/digital-identity-development
Credit: Robinson (2011) http://edudemic.com/2011/10/students-of-the-future/
