Social Media and Digital Citizenship

A couple of weeks ago I came across a post on Free Tech for Teachers discussing the importance of knowing what happens when someone does a Google search of your name.  It literally made me laugh out loud.  Not because I thought it was funny, it simply reminded me of the first time someone told me they had done a Google search on me.  It was my boss, and while I didn't panic or worry, the only thing he found were the articles I had written for my college newspaper, I was a bit taken aback.  This was something I hadn't given much thought about when I was doing the interview rounds, and it made me realize how the evolution of technology has made this a part of the process.
 
At that time, the only social media network I belonged to was Facebook, and I'm one of those people that uses the available security options to the max.  For example, if people search my name the only thing that appears is my profile picture or if a friend tags me in a post, I receive a notification to approve it before it shows up on wall.  However, if I Google search my name today, the first thing that pops up is my Twitter account (I'm more lax with Twitter since I only tweet about twice a week).  The reason I point this out is not only should we as teachers be aware of our social media postings, I'm sure most of us are already careful, but we should also remind our students about being careful with what they post and help them build good digital citizenship habits, especially if they're applying to colleges or getting ready for job interviews.  Having them conduct social media audits is a great starting point.  In addition, displaying this great infographic recently released on Edudemic on how to determine if something is really share-worthy can
serve as a friendly reminder. 

At the end of the day, it's really up to each student to take care and control of their social media accounts.  The best we can do is to give them good advice and not be negligent ourselves