I am constantly amazed by the lack of basic understanding of the social media paradigm by the public at large. Today a ran across a story in the BBC News about how Scottish teachers are being warned that Facebook could present a career risk. The general fear being that by revealing too much personal information the teachers will become too familiar and thereby loose authority over their students.
There are several things that bother me about this sort of logic. Of course there are a number of risks in anyone using social media. As a society we are collectively still getting our heads around how we should approach the fact that we are increasingly living our lives in the public eye. We do have to be concerned about how we behave and the image we are creating for ourselves. The fact is there are very few things that are private in modern society. However, the problem is not that we are or are not users of social media – the issue is that we in general have to understand how to play by an evolving set of social norms and rules.
In this new society connectivity is an asset. It provides access to information, relationships, and opportunity. Cutting out entire media classes would be foolish and extremely limiting. From the teacher’s perspective it is not about limiting themselves from the use of a media type rather it is a change in the traditional leadership style the suggestion of limiting presumes. Teachers should not be leading by positional power alone – they should be leading by the value that they create in the classroom.
I am not suggesting that positional power is completely dead. As we become an increasingly global society, and study culture around the globe, we will see that in different societies positional power and Power Distance as described by Geert Hofstede hold very different roles in the cultural interactions of different societies. In both the US and most of Western Europe positional power is becoming far less important. What is important is that we look for ways to connect and collaborate. The role of the teacher is becoming less the sage on the stage and more a facilitator of learning.
Bottom Line: Managers and Teachers should be human. There are socially appropriate things which can and should be shared on Facebook with colleagues and students. It is up to us as professionals to understand what the limits are and to use the media as a point of intersectional learning and collaboration.
