Whose Space?

Their eyes light up at the sound of it. They spend hours on it. You're "so out" if you're not "on".

Myspace, Facebook and other social networking sites have become more than websites for middle and high school students. They are a main mode of communication and surprisingly, quite an avenue of learning! What do these sights have to do with student leadership? A variety of things. It's a way to market events, advertise your group, inform members, and stay connected. And, you can use them as a way to teach responsibility and professionalism, even on the internet.

Students use these social networking sites to stay in contact with their friends, share pictures and tell their stories. Your school can use these sites to do the same, at the same time providing an example of appropriate content, even posting messages teaching students proper etiquette, responsibility and safety on the internet. Just as students advertise get-togethers, birthdays and parties, your council and chapter can advertise events, application deadlines, meetings and more. If that is the way the students keep in touch, it might just help you keep in touch with them.

If your council, chapter or even your school creates an account on one of these sites, there are of course some concerns, risk and responsibility to understand. What about the student accounts connected to yours? What if students post negative comments or inappropriate pictures? Who controls the accounts "friends"? Someone has to monitor the pages on a regular basis, which can easily be done in five to ten minutes a few times a week. When appropriate comments are made, the administrator deletes them (or can, on some sites, opt to moderate all posts before they're made public). If students continue to post inappropriate comments, they can be removed from your account's network of friends. There are ways to keep it safe, clean and appropriate.

What about students' accounts? The students' accounts are personal and public. They post what is on their site just as you post what is on your site. If they have inappropriate pictures or comments on their site, and they are in your network, does it make you look bad? The better question might be, what is of more concern, what is on their site, or who they are in real life? They are your students no matter what is on their site and they are already associated with your school, social networking websites or not!

In the end, it is a decision the school administration must approve and someone must be assigned to maintain the sites. There are pros and cons; understanding them and working through them can make social networking possible for your council, chapter and/or school.

For more information, see attachment from myspace.com