Social Networking with Students: A Red Flag for Teachers

Part 1 of 2
by Nancy Willard

As society moves at warp speed into the Web 2.0 era, the issue of teacher-student online interactions on social networking sites is an emerging concern. The MySpace/Facebook phenomenon represents the way young people are communicating, and educators are always interested in effective lines of communications with students.

Please recognize that I embrace these social networking sites as places for young people to share information and interact with friends. If students use the protection features and are careful about what they post and whom they link to, MySpace and Facebook are far safer than sites where people interact anonymously, such as chat rooms.

But at the same time, there are some significant pitfalls involved in such communications—significant enough to make me strenuously recommend that teachers avoid establishing “friendship links” with students on commercial social networking sites.

Why raise the red flag?

• First of all, you need only look at your students to see that teens are trying to sort out their sexual identity and relationships. Much of this activity is now occurring online. “Sexual bantering” and “relationship bantering” are inevitable in teen communication environments. Toss a teacher into this mix and you have capital-“T” Trouble.
• Cyber-communication offers the tempting “you can’t see me, I can’t see you” factor. The perceptions of invisibility and lack of tangible feedback can lead people to engage in behavior online that they would not normally do in the real world. This disinhibition can lead to communications between students and teachers that are simply inappropriate—because neither is perceiving the other as they should.

Teachers at Risk

A teacher who receives a sexually suggestive message from a student on a social networking site is at great risk—no matter his or her underlying intentions or response. If the teacher responds with any warmth, he or she could be accused of “grooming.” A “cool” or “disapproving” response could embarrass the student, damage what could be a good relationship or even lead to retaliation.

Can it get worse? Consider this: In the last year in my community, two teachers—male and female—were convicted of statutory rape of a student. These relationships were apparently fostered through online communications on a social networking site.

Another concern is material generated from the teacher’s other friends that could be accessed by students linked to the teacher’s profile. I saw a recent news report about a school resource officer under criminal investigation. It seems his MySpace account included students and adult friends, and one of the adults posted material or links to content that was considered inappropriate for minors. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and the resource officer was not charged.

Think about whether you want to be in the news for investigation of this kind. Worse, given that teens tend to try to link to people who are friends on their friend’s sites, what kinds of relationships might your adult friends develop with your students? And how would any of your adult friends handle a sexually suggestive communication from a student?

Bottom line is that any teacher who links to students on a social networking site is placing him or herself at great risk—regardless of the positive objectives.

What are the positives of social networking? Find out next month in CurricuLinks.

Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, has taught at-risk children, practiced computer law and was an educational technology consultant before focusing her professional attention on issues of youth behavior when using information communication technologies. Willard frequently lectures and conducts workshops for educators on policies and practices to help young people engage in safe and responsible Internet use and has written numerous articles on the subject.