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US Universities offering social media 'netiquette' training

Purchased from iStockphoto

Interesting news from US universities:

The sensitivity of the issue has been reinforced in Maryland and in California, where state legislatures have banned universities from forcing students to disclose their social-media user names, calling that a violation of privacy.

“It’s extremely complicated, and there are so many nuances relating to free expression and free speech,” said Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. “Courts and legislatures are still struggling with these issues.”

In encouraging responsible use, many universities have chosen to focus on telling students not how social media can hurt them but rather how it can help.

If you let them know that Facebook and Twitter are “potential marketing tools” to help land jobs, Mr Hames said, “they’ll think of social media in a different way. We hope that by showing them what it can do, they will actually think: ‘Does posting this picture of my drunk roommate help me with my career?'”

Read full story. I definitely think it’s useful to give netiquette training, and to listen to your students, but any employer who looks back at what’s been done in student days and decides not to employ on that basis surely has their priorities wrong – student life is part of life development’s!

By Digital Fingerprint

Digiexplorer (not guru), Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing @ Manchester Metropolitan University. Interested in digital literacy and digital cultureĀ  in the third sector (especially faith). Author of 'Raising Children in a Digital Age', regularly checks hashtag #DigitalParenting.

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