Using Social Networking Responsibly

“If Facebook were a country, it would now be the 6^th most populous in the world.”

(Inside Facebook.com)

Social networking is all around us. It is here to stay and it is changing how we communicate, interact and learn. Our children have never known a world without digital networking. Parents need to understand what social networking is all about. A great place to start would be a website such as http://www.digizen.org/. Here teachers, parents and young people can find out about social networking. There is a glossary of terms to help you develop digital media literacy.

Social networking tools such as “Twitter” are a fact in today's society. We need to support young people to recognize and manage acceptable behaviour when using these tools. Social norms need to be established and we as parents need to educate ourselves and involve our children in determining what they should be. Our children need to be aware that when they “post” it is part of the public domain.

We, as adults also need to be aware of what we write. A recent article from The Canadian Press warns employees that their jobs could be at risk when sharing controversial statements via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. A sportscaster, Damien Goddard, had his position terminated the day after posting tweets on his thoughts on same-sex marriage. The company did not specifically say that his Twitter comments were the cause; they only stated that he was not a right fit for their organization.

Digital users of today need to be aware of the impact of their words through social-media. What they write is not just to one person or a group of identified friends – it is out there for the world to read. As Erin Barry, a community manager for Sprouter states: “Don't put anything online that you wouldn't want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.

How far does a person's right to freedom of expression go? Is there a need for a guide to social-media users on the “do's and don'ts”? How do we best prepare our children to be responsible and discerning communicators when sending and receiving messages using social networking tools?

Born Digital - Identities

“From the perspective of a Digital Native, identity is not broken up into online and offline identities, or personal and social identities.  Because these forms of identity exist simultaneously and are so closely linked to one another, Digital Natives almost never distinguish between the online and offline versions of themselves.  They establish and communicate their identities simultaneously in the physical and digital worlds....Digital Natives change the personal information they share over the internet all the time as they change their sense of self and how they wish to portray themselves.  What it means to be a young person hasn’t changed; what has changed is the manner in which young people choose to express themselves.”

Born Digital

John Palfrey and Urs Gasser

As parents we watch our children begin to explore who they are.  Throughout life, they likely try various different “identities” on for size.  From the young “superhero” or “fashionista” to the teen “jock” or “goth”, you will watch in amazement as they invent (and reinvent) who they are.  This is not new – you probably had several identities of your own.  The difference with those born digital is that their identities are not simply those of the “private” and “social” context. (You probably have those now – your public “volunteer or work” persona and the person you are at home or with your friends.)   For digital natives, these lines are blurred (or perhaps non-existent).

This is not necessarily a bad development but it is sometimes a confusing concept for parents (and likely teachers and other adults in our children’s lives).  We may struggle to understand why our children share so much information online and worry that they are not safe because of this.  While this fear is warranted, it’s not always so easy to figure out what the appropriate response is.  The reality is that locking down our children’s use of digital media is probably not a good idea (or even truly a sustainable solution).  It drives their online usage underground and removes the opportunity for us to actually debrief about what they are doing, sharing, learning, and experiencing.  Because our children are perhaps unaware and not capable of determining a safe or appropriate level of sharing identity online, it is important that we as parents understand the various tools (facebook, twitter, myspace, live journal, club penguin, etc) enough to be able to ask the right questions to help coach our children as they experiment with identity and what that means in a digitally connected age.

Google yourself...google your children...what do you find?  What digital networks are your children involved in?  Do you understand them?  What questions do you have about how these networks work and how to help your children understand the implications of what identities they share online?

For a great explanation of Born Digital – Identities please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrbgKDEii0  (Maybe watch it with your children as a conversation starter...)