Teachers and Social Networking

Do you have a social networking page on Facebook, MySpace or another social network? Do you think that educators should use social networking? I read very interesting article from the Washington Post about a number of D.C. area educators and their social network pages. The reporter observed a number of photographs and comments that could be deemed inappropriate. Read the article to get the details.

One of the messages that we have tried to convey to students is to be careful of what you post. There are consequences to what you make available online for the entire world to see. Is this something we also also should reiterate to educators as well? Is it anyone's business what a teacher puts on their social networking site, should they be disciplined if it is deemed "inappropriate"? I certainly do not have the answers to these questions, I just thought I would throw it there out for discussion. Also, it is important to note that the reporter did write that the many of the educator's personal pages he read were of constructive use. Last spring, the Boston Globe published an article about this issue that included the comments from some BPS educators.

Are there any educators out there that have a personal social networking page? Is it private or public? Are you worried about students or administrators looking at it?

Are there any educators out there that use social networking for educational use? If so, how do you use it?

Please share your comments with us!