Big Surprise: Facebook Can Cause University Problems
I’m at the panel entitled: Facing the Facebook: Administrative Issues Involving Social Networks
So far this AEJMC panel constructed by Michael Bugeja from Iowa State is all about the negative possibilities for Facebook.com. It appears none of these people have used the networks, but have only seen them from afar. The whole panel is framed from the negative aspects of Facebook.com.
Joel Kaplan: In the media class they have to talk about the legal and ethical issues that publishing requires. On Facebook there are 8 million plus users each day. It’s seventh in overall traffic on the Internet. There is a responsibility issue. What you put down there on Facebook is going to be with you forever. Businesses often have the Facebook searched to see job applicants entries.
In one case at Syracuse students used offensive speech to give their opinions of a graduate teaching assistant. But although it was offensive, it probably passed the First Amendment test for free speech. The college administrators suspended a couple of the students, but should they have? Did they hurt the students rights of free speech and thus hurt everyone’s free speech rights?
Panelist Shirley Staples Carter tells of how students at the University of South Carolina were running videos of athletes participating in athletic feats and drinking beer. They all have been advised by the administration that this is unacceptable.
So what I am hearing so far is that all the college behaviors that happened under the cover of dark, are now being made public. Oh my god, how terrible. What’s more ethical to reveal the truth or keep it below the public’s radar? If the Facebook.com was not beneficial to students, they would not be using it. Let’s look and see how and why it is used.
I brought this up to the panel and was assured that they understand the benefits of social networking, but they want administrators to know what the pitfalls are. Okay, but I think it would be much more productive to come to this from the positive side, and then approach the negatives in that context.
