Do you "friend" your advisee's on Facebook? How do you handle their "friend" requests? Inside Higher Education recently published an article by the authors of a new book regarding social networking on campuses. In it, they outline the most important things that campus professionals should know about Facebook, some of the most worrisome practices that students are engaging in and advice on handling those tricky friend requests.
Facebook is a "Student Space" First and Foremost
This is often very difficult for me to keep in context because I view Facebook entirely different than current students do. When Facebook was first launched back in 2004, I was a sophomore student and wasn't sure what all the fuss was with this service. As time (and the application) progressed, so did my uses for it. In primative Facebook days, there was a "Classes" feature that would allow you to see other students who were enrolled in the same classes that you were. Since Facebook is now shifting away from a college audience to a broader one this feature has been eliminated.
My idea of Facebook has always included a component of academia whereas those students who are experiencing it for the first time now have no sense at all of what it was like at its inception. They only know it as being a social network where you can send gifts, send Zombie invitations, and never ever have to remember a birthday. Students do not always welcome the sight of administrators and professors in "their" corner of cyberspace.
Worrisome Practices
Facebook addiction is something that many students have expressed to me during advisement appointments. They frequently cite its use as one of the reasons they are not completeing school work as well as a source of personal issues (e.g., a friend tags a photo of them in a precarious situation and won't remove the photo) which can interfere with their academic load.
I think its important that we as advisors DO NOT forget that addiction to anything is possible. We need to listen to our students, offer suggestions for successful time management and make referreals to counseling services when necessary.
To Friend or Not To Friend: That is the Question
While the article doesn't take a direct position on this, I am going to.
DO add students who send friend requests to you.
DO NOT add students who did not request the add.
If a student requests to be a friend, you may also set up a limited profile for them when they attempt to view your profile. As always I am a big advocate of keeping your profile as professional as possible (e.g., avoiding too many apps, keeping religious views and political views off) but there is the option to limit students access even further.
Seeking out a student on Facebook and asking them to be your friend is, in my opinion, somewhat inappropriate. If there is a good rationale for seeking the student out (e.g., want to recommend them for something) you can send them a message rather than adding them to your network.
Advising With Facebook
I have found that Facebook can be a great tool to get advisee's to interact with one another (via groups) and tremendously helps to keep students engaged with their academic lives. Creating a relationship where a student feels comfortable sending you electronic messages (whether email or Facebook) allows for a more holistic approach to advising. Facebook also allows us to meet students where they live; email isn't that place anymore.
I will continue to respond to messages that my advisee's send to me via Facebook and continue to send them pertinent information via Facebook groups that they voluntarily join. One application that I would like to learn more about is the Schools on Facebook app (if any of your Universities are using it please let me know what you think!).
So...Questions for my readers...
What is your take on Facebook and advisement? Are you using it in your center? Do you agree or disagree with me regarding friending students?
5 comments:
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The other thing I do besides waiting for students to friend me is that I stick them in a friend group and then restrict their access to things I'd rather share only with me "real" friends.
I have my privacy settings set so that my advisees probably can't even find me. Similar to you, Facebook came out when I was an undergrad, so I use it mostly to keep in touch with high school, undergrad, and graduate school friends. Because I am relatively close in age to most of the students I advise, I will not interact with them on Facebook to help keep that professional separation. I do not look up my advisees on Facebook; if I need to track down a student, I contact the Dean of Student's office. What my students are doing outside of my office has no bearing on my advising relationship with them unless they bring that piece into the appointment. I really don't think that advisors should be using Facebook for advising, nor do I think that advisors should be friending students, regardless of how that invitation is made.
I love the idea of having a "Student Friend" list! This would make things much easier! Thanks! That might just be a best practice idea.
At one point I was in the same camp as Sarah.. I didn't think that advising had any role on Facebook. The more I talk to students though, the more they tell me that they like being able to access their professors, administrators etc via this method.
I don't do any formal advising via Facebook, but I do use it to interact with students that I come in contact with in University Experience courses and have a group for a workshop that we run.
My opinion is that in the future there will be more and more of this type of interaction between students and professionals. We need to at least look at the issues surrounding it and consider them carefully.
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