Your private life, well, it's not so private (higher ed, social media, and privacy)

Interesting article about faculty and social media, touching a tiny bit on online presence & digital identity ( because you know -- say it with me kids -- if you're not building your digital identity, someone is building it for you...)

but also further removes the illusion that faculty members -- or anyone, for that matter -- can maintain a completely private life on the Internet.

Heh. Did we think otherwise? Come to think about it, is any part of our life private? Our financial transactions and life are stored online, webcams almost EVERYWHERE, so what IS private?

Faculty may make efforts to preserve their private lives, but professors really have “24-7” jobs and can never fully distance themselves from their identities as educators held to high standards, said Brad Ward, who advises colleges on using social media.

I think that the EXPECTATION that we ALWAYS have to represent our institution or company is outdated and doesn't fit very well with social media. If you expect to participate in social media, there has to be understanding that people will be... well... people. Otherwise, it just into yet another digital platform for pr and publishing.