Why Youth [And Adult] Professionals Need Social Networking Policies
Posted by anastasia on 09-23-2009Last week I did an interview with an Associated Press reporter about a new survey of medical school deans that found med students posting lots of inappropriate content on social networking sites. The percentages reported were much higher than, for example the Common Sense Media study on teens behaving badly (or really mostly just behaving). From the survey [these are deans reporting]:
- 60 percent reported incidents of students posting unprofessional content
- Violations of patient confidentiality were reported by 13 percent
- 52 percent of students used profanity
- 48 percent used frankly discriminatory language
- 39 percent posted about being intoxicated
- 38 percent posted sexually suggestive content
- 38 percent of the schools have policies about posting content online (and 11 percent of schools without policies were actively developing them. The deans that had policies were more likely to report these incidents, feel as though these issues could be addressed and also had a greater level of concern about these issues)
I found this study really interesting — it speaks to the recent mass adoption of social networking sites by adults and the reality that deans, bosses, employers, etc. can all find what youth are posting in what used to be "the most social of social spaces." I've been seeing lots of studies for awhile now about the increasing numbers of employers looking at profiles and making decisions based on what they find. What this says to me is that for young people going into specific professions, like the medical profession, there really is a need, not only for the 101 discussion about privacy settings and the reality that even if you use them correctly, inappropriate content can still be found/copied/pasted, but for policies regarding sharing confidential patient information, or even giving medical advice to friends on these sites. It speaks to the need for specific professions to begin crafting policies and ethics around social media that address their own unique issues.
This is really an opportunity for students/staffers or younger administrators to work across the generations to craft policies based on youth's knowledge of how these sites work and older faculty or employer's knowledge of what's appropriate within a specific profession. And as I always say, it's not just youth who make mistakes on these sites… these policies, if crafted thoughtfully, could really help us all navigate our way through this new social media landscape.
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Categorized under: Collegians, Web
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I think you're absolutely right, Anastasia. What you're describing is part of the new-media-literacy training that's got to be as "baseline" as traditional media literacy has been throughout school, pre-K-12 and beyond, in all appropriate subjects + "teachable moments." Not just comfort and competency with new media, but also critical thinking about what ppl are posting and uploading as much as reading and downloading. Media literacy is now social and behavioral! Pretty interesting time we live in, eh?
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
When representing your company through social media, you must have rules. Do what you want with your own name but if you’re charged with managing your company’s brand, you have a serious responsibility. Read more on social media: http://www.famefoundry.com/646/the-no-duhs-of-social-media/
September 24th, 2009 at 12:22 am
It is critical for Boomers to solicit the Gen Y perspective on setting up the social media policies. This allows the Gen Y to share their knowledge and have a vested interest in seeing the policy be successful. With cross-mentorship, Gen Y's can help share their natural technology and social media skills while Boomers share their guidance, knowledge, and experience. This maximizes how effective Gen Ys and Boomers are in the workplace because they are both using their experience and skill set that has been built up over time.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Good points here Anastasia. This is a topic that deserves more discussion than it receives. There are so many people using social media for different reasons, establishing general rules of appropriateness can be difficult. For example, a company utilizing social media to build brand awareness as opposed to a 17 year old using social media to stay connected to friends and family, will typically have different perspectives on rules and boundaries which will still vary significantly between the groups.