Ah, the World Wide Web

I read a story today out of London about Oxford Students finding themselves in trouble because of their "Facebook" profiles. Interestingly enough, I have been working with these issues for almost 3 years now. Pepperdine first addressed students pictures on Facebook and other online social networks like MySpace when evidence arose that was in direct violation to the Community Standards. It has become such a large issue in Higher Education that there have been sessions at the national conferences on how to handle 'Facebook Related Issues'.

I know that I am not in the minority in my job when I prescreen my student leaders by looking at their online profiles. I am honest with them during the interview process and try to help them understand that they are accountable for what is on the public domain, or the WWW. This is definitely a different world we live in today. We didn't have to worry about stories or pictures getting sent around the world, unless we sent them. Today, with seemingly every college student having a digital camera, pictures are taken of students in all types of situations. I tell my students, you can't necessarily control the pictures taken of you, but you can control what you are doing in those pictures. Students generally are understanding of this but it is still met with resistance. I attribute it to the fast paced, more technologically savvy world we live in. The perks of the digital age also come with consequences and I try to 'educate' as many students as possible to both.