Seminar scheduled to teach people how to use Facebook
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Social networking Web sites like Facebook and Twitter could provide users with more than just social purposes, said information technology experts on campus.
The IT Service Solutions Center will lead a seminar Friday to help people better understand the basics of using Facebook. The seminar, titled “How to Use Facebook,” came about in response to a June 19 seminar discussing some of the issues associated with social networking.
Marie Mayer, communication specialist with IT Services Academic Technologies, said a lot of faculty members wanted to know more about how to set up and use a Facebook account after the first seminar and to learn some of the potential implications in a professional environment.
“Some people keep their Facebook pages very professional; some keep them very personal,” Mayer said. “We’re not going to say you should do it this way or that way, but we want to make sure that, along with these new tools, people understand what it means when you friend someone — what can this person see?”
Jim Twetten, assistant director of IT Services Academic Technologies, said one of the issues that came out of the first meeting was how social networking should be used. Although the audience was made up of all ages, many of the members were faculty and staff trying to grasp the concept.
“Most of the people that were sitting in there were going ‘Well, is this something I just sort of do because I’m catching up with old classmates? Or is this something that there’s a functional need for at the university?” Twetten said. “I personally think the answer to that question is both.”
Mayer said Facebook could be used as an academic tool for creating department groups and fan pages. Twetten said some faculty members use Twitter as a way to share articles and ideas.
Keeping those things separated from personal uses can be hard.
“Some people wanted to have [Facebook or Twitter] as a personal tool, and then to suddenly have coworkers chiming in on their personal accounts wasn’t something they anticipated and was a little unnerving to them,” Twetten said. “In other words, they want to keep their work and personal life separate, and there’s no real good answer on how to do that.”
Students also have to be careful with how they use Facebook, Twetten said, adding that potential employers will often do a Google search of a candidate’s name during the hiring process.
“You’ve just got to be careful with what’s out there,” Twetten said. “The students I talk to, I tell all of them ‘Just be careful what you post.’ You never know who’s going to see it. You just have to treat it as a completely public post.”
Mayer expects Friday’s session to draw a crowd of people who are 30 and older and want to know how and if they should to use Facebook.
“Our goal is both the how-to and then to make people aware of how the tool works so they can make informed decisions for themselves as to how they want to set things up — or if they want to set things up,” Mayer said.
The IT Service Solutions Center will lead a seminar Friday to help people better understand the basics of using Facebook. The seminar, titled “How to Use Facebook,” came about in response to a June 19 seminar discussing some of the issues associated with social networking.
Marie Mayer, communication specialist with IT Services Academic Technologies, said a lot of faculty members wanted to know more about how to set up and use a Facebook account after the first seminar and to learn some of the potential implications in a professional environment.
“Some people keep their Facebook pages very professional; some keep them very personal,” Mayer said. “We’re not going to say you should do it this way or that way, but we want to make sure that, along with these new tools, people understand what it means when you friend someone — what can this person see?”
Jim Twetten, assistant director of IT Services Academic Technologies, said one of the issues that came out of the first meeting was how social networking should be used. Although the audience was made up of all ages, many of the members were faculty and staff trying to grasp the concept.
“Most of the people that were sitting in there were going ‘Well, is this something I just sort of do because I’m catching up with old classmates? Or is this something that there’s a functional need for at the university?” Twetten said. “I personally think the answer to that question is both.”
Mayer said Facebook could be used as an academic tool for creating department groups and fan pages. Twetten said some faculty members use Twitter as a way to share articles and ideas.
Keeping those things separated from personal uses can be hard.
“Some people wanted to have [Facebook or Twitter] as a personal tool, and then to suddenly have coworkers chiming in on their personal accounts wasn’t something they anticipated and was a little unnerving to them,” Twetten said. “In other words, they want to keep their work and personal life separate, and there’s no real good answer on how to do that.”
Students also have to be careful with how they use Facebook, Twetten said, adding that potential employers will often do a Google search of a candidate’s name during the hiring process.
“You’ve just got to be careful with what’s out there,” Twetten said. “The students I talk to, I tell all of them ‘Just be careful what you post.’ You never know who’s going to see it. You just have to treat it as a completely public post.”
Mayer expects Friday’s session to draw a crowd of people who are 30 and older and want to know how and if they should to use Facebook.
“Our goal is both the how-to and then to make people aware of how the tool works so they can make informed decisions for themselves as to how they want to set things up — or if they want to set things up,” Mayer said.
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