Shane EvansOne of the biggest crazes on college campuses when you become a freshman is to get your very own Facebook account. But now it may not be “so cool” because one of your very first professors at college may have it too.
Facebook is one of the most popular sites among college students. Being very different from MySpace, you cannot create your own backdrops, have music play or post surveys about yourself, but you can add unlimited pictures of yourself and the memories you have made.
To get Facebook you need school identification, so it is not as easy to get Facebook as it is a MySpace account, which is a reason why some students like it better. But say you attend a crazy party and take tons upon tons of pictures. You get on your computer and upload them all to Facebook, creating a new album. This may get all of your friends laughing and reminiscing about the past nights’ events, but what would it make you feel like if your college professors see those same pictures?
Sophomore English communications major Kelly Moorehead said, “No, I don’t hesitate putting up pictures that I’m scared of professors seeing. To be honest, I never thought about it.”
Former General Manager of WYBF, Communication center supervisor for the English and communications department and graduate of the Class of 2005 Craig Vagell Jr. said, “Facebook was given to college students and others as a tool to be able to network with long distance friends and people whom you may have never met. By placing offensive language or pictures on a wall or profile will only in return hurt your reputation and could potentially jeopardize a future job with a company.”
As Vagell said, people get Facebook to stay in touch with many others from other colleges or simply get it to make new friends, but many students feel that only students should have an account.
Freshman accounting major Nick Swaitz said, “I don’t have Facebook, but if I did, I would feel violated. I would not want any of my teachers to have this.”
Freshman marketing major Mike Kroener said, “If my teachers got Facebook, it would suck. I would be pissed and scared that I would get in trouble for postings.”
But, for all you students that have Facebook, don’t get paranoid that your professors are just logging-on to see what you are up to. There are teachers that don’t bother with Facebook.
Dr. Kathleen Acker of mathematics said with a smile, “I really don’t have the time to set-up an account, but I don’t think I would want a page of just me either. I think it’s a nice thing for the English and communications department to network for their students, but since I know where math teachers go to network, that’s where I find myself going. Many teachers may not have a Facebook account because they simply do not know about it.”
So the next time you log onto Facebook to write those not-so-nice words or post those “memorable” pictures, remember that not only will your friends view them, but your professors are looking at the same things as well.
“Of course people want to share their memories with friends by placing pictures up from a party or bar setting, but there is a limitation to what I think people should post. If you post something offensive, others on Facebook will look at that individual and make pre-judgments about their personality or the level of their maturity,” Vagell said.
