Tag: social-media

Pew Internet Report: Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks

This recent report from Pew Internet & American Life Project reviews How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace.

Some interesting findings:

1. Boys and girls have different views/behaviors on privacy
2. Half of all American online teens use a social network
3. Teens treat various types of personal information differently

This report is important because it is describing tomorrow’s college students. We need to understand students’ use and perceptions about technology. Our IT folks need understand this so that our technology infrastructure can continue to evolve at an appropriate pace. Our administrators need to understand this so that we can anticipate how to respond to issues related to privacy, and ethics, and the many other areas. Our faculty need to understand how students will expect these technologies and behaviors to translate into the classroom. Our Student Affairs folks need to understand how these behaviors will translate into behaviors outside the classroom. The list goes on, but the additional point is that we should be doing this collectively: having conversations across campus about the next generation of students that will be here soon.

(Side note: seems as if these “generations” come more and more quickly. The baby boomer generation is generally accepted as being post-WWII through the very early 1960s, where as “Generation X” and “Generation Y” and now the “Net Generation” have all followed in quick succession.)

OpenID

A recent post to the EDUCAUSE blog nicely sums up the challenges of being a participant (citizen?) in the Web 2.0 world. Trying to navigate through a variety of tools and the resulting multiple identities can be a hindrance to really exploring all that Web 2.0 has to offer. And to compound it, some of those identities are personal and some are professional…and some are a blend which blurs it all even more. Lines that I had firmly drawn years ago to separate those worlds now seem to have shifted, which causes me to ponder just how transparent I want my life to be.

But back to the more technical challenges. A micro-level example of the problem of multiple profiles/identities is on our own campus. One of the most common questions I hear is “When will I be able to have just one login?” I think that the powers that be are very aware of this issue, and it is being addressed as part of an Identity Management initiative (I’ll add a link to that soon as I can find it).

A response to that post has led me to read more about OpenID, a phrase I’ve seen but only now am appreciating as a concept. Simply put, “OpenID means the elimination of multiple user names and passwords and a smoother, more secure, online experience.”

The notion of solving this at the macro-level is exciting, and I look forward to watching its development.

Facebook: Love/Hate

Today’s article on Technician Online makes clear that students’ love of  Facebook is not unconditional. In fact, students seem to have a love/hate relationship with this and other online social networking sites. This article outlines some new tools available on Facebook, which are the result of Facebook Platform (a set of developer’s tools that allow these applications to be written). Apps range from pure entertainment to politics  to dating to the “doing good deeds” genre, and include titles such as iLike (music), LOLCats, Movies, Naughty Gifts, Compare People, Causes, My Purity Test, Fortune Cookie, What’s your Stripper/Porn/Gangster/Hieroglyph (and more) Name, Moods, Bumper Sticker…and hundreds more.

Some students quoted in the Technician article feel that these applications make Facebook more of a time-waster than before, and others feel that the applications are silly or meaningless.

This coincides with some student perspectives I heard through an Interactive Theatre performance at a conference I recently attended. The students (both in character and out) stated that they have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. On one hand, it is the ultimate procrastination tool, and you can find yourself suddenly hours into a Facebook session. On the other hand, it helps the students feel connected. Essentially, the students were saying that they are addicted (their term) to Facebook and had to get their fix every day, even though it could (but doesn’t always) waste time.

Another theme from this performance was the notion that Facebook seduces students into the notion of “feeling connected” but that when using Facebook in a vacuum, it can lead to all sorts of misconceptions and behaviors that can be harmful to individuals and and their relationships with others. Students use Facebook to “feel connected” (especially on large campuses) but can also end up feeling isolated and friendless.

I think our Student Affairs staff have a love/hate relationship with Facebook as well. Many recongize this as a resource that indeed could be a wonderful tool to help students connect, but worry about the lack of personal interaction, the sharing of personal information, and the consequences of the behaviors on students.