In my EDN 303 class we discuss privacy issues and social media. One of the issues that comes up quite often is facebook privacy. Here are my recommendations that I give to my students:
– Make your profile private – do this so that only your friends can see your wall, photos, page, status updates, etc.
– Make yourself unsearchable. While it’s ok to be searchable it might just better to make yourself hidden so that your students cannot find you
– Do NOT become friends with your students. Do NOT chat with them on instant messenger, etc. While I will be friends with my students, they are 18 years old. I would never be friends with a student that is a minor. Just do not do it.
– Make a separate profile for work friends. I do this using LinkedIn. That way my colleagues can be my friend but do not have to see all of my personal photos if I choose to post them.
– If you want a page but are a little scared, create one using a fake name and just friend your close family and friends. That way you can see their pages
– The final thing – check the privacy settings at least once a month. Facebook tends to change their settings all the time, so please double check yours to make sure they are correct.
Here is a video that goes through setting your privacy settings:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA7GL507mrk]