Social Media: An Introduction

Social Networks, Blogs, Microblogs, and

Protecting Your Privacy and Digital Reputation

Lesson Plan by Amy Craig & Eric Kleppen

I. Introduce topic (4 minutes total)

a. The importance of social media

i. Today we’re going to talk about social media because
understanding how to use social networking tools is becoming
fundamental, as employers are using them as recruiting tools, and
people are using them as networking tools.

Question (Class can just blurt out answers): What social networking sites do you use?
How do you use them?

II. Overview of Social Media sites

a. Social networking sites (8 minutes)

Question: Did anyone see The Social Network?

i. Facebook: Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and is

currently the number one social networking site with over 500 million
users. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook while attending Harvard.
Originally it was exclusive to Harvard students, but opened to the public
completely in 2006.

Question for discussion: Why are websites like Facebook so popular? What do we
“get” out of using them so frequently?
 • Use the question to lead into blogging and micro blogging
• Make sure to highlight these during the mini discussion:
 Social networking sites promote interacting through user generated
content.
 Sites like Facebook offer a complete experience - friends, games,
activities, and creates a community-like feeling even when you’re alone.

Activity: Watch the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0h0LlCu8Ks

Question: Does Seth Godin make a valid point about online social networking?

• Key points to lead discussion with:

 Is it common to have real life interactions to people you only know
online?
 Is it more a boost for the ego, or do you really feel connected to
people while online or connected to an online community?

b. Blogs (10 minutes)

• A blog is a type of interactive website used to share information and is usually
updated and maintained by a person or group and structures posted content in
reverse chronological order. They typically incorporate text, images, links
and, most of the time, comments.
i. Blogger: Blogger was launched in 99 by Pyra Labs. Blogger was revolutionary
because it used online, embedded software to allow users to easily create and
maintain blogs without knowing code or paying for hosting space.

Activity: Class blog [start in class weekly assignment around blogging]

• As the teacher, you will have already set up a blog using blogger.
• Have students take out a sheet of paper
• Write their email, first and last name, and an idea for name of the class blog on
the sheet.
 • Collect them at the end of class

Activity explained: Once the papers are collected, the teacher will invite the students to
collaborate on the blog. As the teacher, you will post a short article weekly on the blog
or think of a question based on coursework, and the students will have to write a
paragraph long comment in response.

c. Microblogs (5 minutes)

i. Twitter: Launched by Jack Dorsey in 2006, Twitter is a microblog that limits

posts to 140-characters. It is important to understand how to use twitter because it
not only acts as a portal for you to keep up with your friends, but also acts as a
real-time search engine covering millions of topics.

Activity: Watch twitter video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIpD7hfffQo

• Briefly discuss why that might attract users to twitter, or what the class liked or
disliked about the video.

III. Social Media Privacy and Your Digital Reputation

Now that the students have learned more about what social media is and how they can (or
already do) use it, the last portion of the class time will be used to talk about issues of
privacy and "digital reputation" relating to social media.

a. Introduce this part of the lesson by saying something to the effect of the following:
(Allow about 3 minutes)

“Now we're going to look at some important issues with social media that you need to be
aware of. Even though, according to Mark Zuckerberg, ‘Facebook is about sharing’
(Facebook.com), you shouldn’t share everything about yourself on a social media site.
For example, would you want someone who is reviewing your college application or a
potential employer to see a post like this?

‘Decided to blow off studying for my history exam tomorrow and go to John’s
party instead. Hope to see ya there!’

Be aware that if you posted that as a Facebook status update without using any privacy
controls, then the college official reviewing your application might not think as
favorably of you as they would have had they not seen the update.”

b. Importance of social media privacy and managing a "digital

reputation."

After introducing the topic as outlined above, tell students that it is important
that they are aware of their “digital reputation.” (Allow about a minute to talk
about this).
o “Digital reputation,” in the context of social media, defined:
According to Davina Pruitt Ph.D., Director of Educational Technology
Policy, Research and Outreach in the College of Education at the
University of Maryland, digital (online) reputation is “[A] way of crafting
or creating your online image, how you want to present yourself in a
digital media […] it’s the way of crafting that message that others will
see” (from http://knowwheretheygo.org/asca/videos).

c. Show students this video from Yahoo! Video and

NetSmartz.org: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4375981/11740689
(Video is 49 seconds in length)

 After viewing the clip, ask students to raise their hands to indicate
whether or not their online life matches their real life.
  If there are students that said their online life does NOT match
their real life, ask them if they would be willing to share how the
two are different, and why.

(Allow 5 minutes total to watch video clip, have students raise hands and discuss
real-life and online-life matching or not matching.)

IV. The question and discussion above leads into why a person's online life
should, as much as possible, match their real life.

i. Share with the students these statistics from TRUSTe, an

online privacy services company (from “How to Protect Your
Privacy on Social Networks: Tips for Teens”):

• “Nearly 50 percent of all employers use social networking sites to screen

applicants.”

• · “70 percent of college admission officers use social networking sites to evaluate
college applicants.”

• Information you post is not completely anonymous. Every Internet-connected

computer has an IP address that can be used to trace a user’s identity.

ii. In light of these facts, ask how many students, by a show of hands, now think
how they represent themselves online, especially on social media sites, is
important. If there are students who do not raise their hands, ask them why they
don’t feel their digital reputation is important.

(Allow about a minute to read the statistics and about 3 minutes for
discussion).

V. Concluding activity: “Viewing and Changing Privacy Settings” assignment

(Allow about 5-6 minutes to hand out assignment, explain and/or answer
questions)
The final activity is a homework assignment* to be given out at the end of class. Assign
students the task of looking at the privacy settings for their social media profile, if they
have one. If there are students who do not have a profile, assign them the task of looking
at and evaluating Blogger's privacy settings, since the class will be using the site.

*See the activity packet beginning on page 7. The packet can be printed out and
distributed to students to complete in order to receive credit for the assignment.

VI. Class Review: Why social media is important:

Social media is as addictive as it is profitable. It connects us to different people

and different things. People spend hours a day creating virtual identities that contain
valued information that business can use to help design advertisements and promotions,
judge whether or not they want to hire you, and collect feedback about products and
services.

It's important for you (students) to understand the appropriate uses of social media
because it is becoming a more and more important to global culture. It allows for easy
collaboration on projects, helps people stay in touch, and introduces people to new ideas.

Question: Do you think that Facebook will continue to grow in popularity, or is it just
another fad that will eventually be replaced by a better service?
 Class Assignment: Viewing and Changing Privacy Settings

Overview:

In class, you learned about three different social media sites: Facebook, Blogger
and Twitter. You also discussed issues relating to privacy on these sites, and the
importance of being aware of your "digital reputation."

This assignment will teach you how to view and change your privacy settings on
Facebook, Blogger and Twitter.

Directions:

1) Read the information in this packet! It describes how to view and change your
settings for all three sites.
2) After you have read the packet, go to one or all of the sites and change your
privacy settings based on what you've learned.
3) Answer the questions listed below. (Worth 2 points each)
(Please type your answers on a separate sheet)

1. Was it easy to get to the area of the site where you edit your privacy settings?
Answer for each of the three sites and explain why or why not.

2. Prior to this assignment, did you use privacy settings to control who can see your
Facebook profile? If yes, what information did you not make public

3. Prior to this assignment, did you have restrictions on who could view your blog?
If yes, describe them.

4. As a result of this assignment, what restrictions did you place on who can see
your blog, if any?

5. Prior to this assignment, did you protect your tweets on Twitter? If not, explain
why.
6. What information did you make either private or friends-only on your Facebook
profile as a result of this assignment?

7. In the future, are you going to restrict who can see things like status updates
when you post them on Facebook?

8. What is one thing you wish were different about what you can and cannot make
private or restrict on these sites?

9. What would you change about the options available to users for controlling their
privacy?

10. David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the
Company that is Connecting the World, talks about his eighteen year-old
daughter’s view on Facebook privacy settings in Finlo Rohrer’s article “The
Unintended Consequences of Facebook.” Kirkpatrick says, “"My wife and I
cannot see anything. She is using the privacy controls simply not to let her
parents see [her profile].”

Do you use privacy controls to restrict what your parents can see about you on
social media sites? If so, is this the only reason you used privacy settings, are
there other reasons as well?
 Instructions on How to Change Facebook, Blogger and Twitter
Privacy Settings
NOTE: On all of the sites, be sure to save your settings to make sure the changes you
make are applied!

A. How to change your privacy settings on Facebook

Some information is available to everyone no matter what:

▫ Name

▫ Profile Picture

▫ Gender

▫ Networks

1) To view privacy settings:

1. Login to Facebook

2. Hover over & click “Account” in the upper left corner

3. Click “Privacy Settings”

(Continued on Next Page)

 2) Watch the three “Learn More” videos about privacy on Facebook to learn
how to change specific settings. The videos are located at:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100337313757414.

Make sure to watch all three videos!

B. How to change your privacy settings on Blogger

Google (who owns Blogger) provides a detailed video on how to change your
blog settings.

The video is available at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PFlCNKVOwY&feature=player_embedded

(Continued on Next page)

C. How to protect your tweets on Twitter

1. Click username and select “Settings” from the dropdown menu

2. Under “Account” tab, scroll down to “Tweet Privacy” and check the “Protect
my tweets” box.

Note that any tweets you posted prior to checking this box
aren’t protected. The protection only applies to future
tweets.