You Want to Know More About Me? Just Ask Google!

Since the creation of Google (and other search engines), people have been happily and creepily stalking new acquaintances the minute they get home. Admit it, you've done it, too. And while we're at it, you can also go ahead and admit that you've also Googled yourself (insert tune to "You're So Vain" here). I am right there with you! I have always felt pretty secure in my online identity since there are not many "Crystel Kinnees" in the world, let alone "Crystels." However, I firmly believe that within the last few months, Google took some stalker steroids. While my name would produce merely my Facebook and Myspace accounts, it now displays pages of everything I have ever written on said websites. What the what?!

I give you Exhibit A:


Oh goodness. It's like looking back at hours of procrastination in one simple screen shot.

Luckily, I don't see anything that I would regret as a teacher. Facebook and Myspace (and other social outlets) became immensely popular around my sophomore year of college, in 2004. While in college, I was a member of a sorority and with the popularity of Facebook (pet name: Stalkerbook), came new rules to protect our sorority's image. Everything on our profiles had to be set to private, we were not aloud to use damaging language and we were also encouraged to screen the photographs that were posted - private or otherwise. Thankfully, I followed these rules and as it turns out, this may have saved me many hours of cleaning up after my young adult self.

While one may argue that Facebook and Myspace are tools in which one can use free speech, that only goes so far. Just recently, a school district employee was fired from his job for posting derogatory comments on his Facebook profile (and go figure that Google has failed me and I cannot seem to find the article to link it here). It is a fact that our students will try to find us online and they will try to be our online friends. While I do not believe it is appropriate to have online friendships between students and teachers, and while my profile is very private, it is extremely apparent that students will still be able to dig up some dirt on dear 'ol Miss Kinnee. If the wrong student finds something incriminating, I could lose my job. I think I would rather screen myself online than take that risk.

In the article "Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately?" I found it interesting that teachers actually use social networking sites to communicate with their students "beyond the four walls of the classroom." Further, I am a little shocked to learn that 40% of Myspace users are over the age of 35. As I stated earlier, I do not think it would be appropriate to be online friends with my students. I think there are other venues in which to form relationships with them that are not as risky as social networking. The statistic that 40% of Myspace users are over the age of 35 further supports the amount of online predators and adult cyber-bullies. I want to protect myself and my students as much as I can and I don't think having outrageous social networking profiles and being friends with all my students on them will help.

There is a certain amount of respect in the classroom that a teacher expects in order to successfully manage her students. While it is important to be authoritative, it is also important to create friendships with students, but there is definitely a line to be drawn. For example, a student that is friends with a teacher on Facebook may feel that he has more liberties in her classroom because they are online friends - almost as if he has more rights than those that do not. What happens if said student acts out and the teacher has to then assert her authority? Wouldn't it be easy for the student to get upset, take things off of the teacher's profile and put them out of context? I say, "No, thank you."

I will admit that I am as much of a Facebook junkie as the next 25-year-old, but I do know where to draw the line. I enjoy keeping my personal life and my public life separate - something I will continue to do once I become a teacher.

Happy Social Networking!