A video for parents: What parents need to know about technology
A video for students: What you need to know before you go: Tech
Ana M. Martínez-Alemán, chair of educational administration and higher education at Boston College, and co-author of the book Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture, answered readers' questions about social networking on campus .
When she graduates this spring, Sarah Illman will be among the first Canadian university students to have lived her entire post-secondary academic career on Facebook.
Like millions of other college and university students, Ms. Illman registered for her first account with the popular social network shortly after arriving as a frosh at Wilfrid Laurier University in Kitchener four years ago. Now, it's the prime mode of communication she uses to connect with her friends and classmates.
For those parents unfamiliar with Facebook and MySpace, online social networks can be at once confusing and somewhat frightening, especially when considering the amount of time teenagers and university students devote to posting photos, sending messages and chatting with the people on their friend lists.
Couple that with horror stories of teenage girls posting racy photos to their profiles, of students listing the details of a party online only to have 500 uninvited guests show up and tales of employers turning down recent graduates due to the inappropriate content of their Facebook profiles and it's no small wonder many parents are concerned about what their children are doing online when they head off to school.
To those parents who are feeling trepidations at such suggestions, Ms. Illman might provide some peace of mind.
After four years of updating an online profile that doubled as her de facto public face within her university social circle, Ms. Illman is a veteran of a tech-savvy generation that understands the ins, outs and etiquette of surviving the post-secondary education grind with their online reputation intact.
"You should be aware that when you put a picture on Facebook, it is visible to everyone on your list and potentially more, so you want to make sure that you're not posting things that you're going to regret later," she said.
"A lot of people don't really realize that when they put pictures of themselves really drunk in residence they can get in trouble, or pictures of themselves with weed, those sorts of activities that people will look down on, that's the most important thing."
No one sat Ms. Illman down and taught her how to use Facebook. No one warned her not to post photos from last night's party or told her when to add someone to her friend list.
Facebook has become the default e-mail system with pictures for many students. Some will add "friends" to their friend lists after speaking to them for 20 minutes at a party, or because they're working on a group project in sociology, according to Kara Carnduff, a third-year journalism student at Carleton University in Ottawa.
"Most people check their Facebook more than their e-mail," she said. "I think the only time we really use e-mails is when you need to send an attachment.
Whenever she posts a picture or tags, or identifies, herself in one of her friend's pictures, she remembers that she's got about 600 friends on her profile, many of whom she knows only tenuously, or has already forgotten.
"Every time I do something I ask myself if it's just for this person to see or should I be private messaging them or calling them about it, or do I mind if everyone can see it, because everyone can see it," she said. "You just need to remember that and remember that there are a lot of people who aren't your friends who can see your Facebook page."
