How colleges are dodging Facebook embarrassment
February 15, 2010 by Jacob HawleyPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Tech News
University athletic departments are using a novel way of protecting their student athletes from their own social networking gaffes.
An assistant athletic director for the University of Mississippi has signed on with UDiligence.com, a Vermont firm that scans social network profiles of its athletes for over 500 keyword references to drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, racial slurs and profanity.
It was an efficient alternative to the usual practice of getting an intern to monitor Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages for comments or pictures that could paint the students and/or school in a negative light.
The company’s services don’t come free – costs range from $1,350 to $5,000 per year, depending on the amount of students a school wants monitored.
Is this monitoring system a smart way to protect students’ and colleges’ reputations – or is it an invasion of privacy? Voice your opinions in our Comments Section below.
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Tags: social networks, student-athletes, University of Mississippi
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February 17th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
It is number of students, not amount.
February 17th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Nothing posted on Facebook is really private, so it’s not really a question of invasion of privacy. Free speech, THAT’s the question. This Big Brother approach feels an awful lot like stalking.
February 17th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Seems to me that the perceived need to monitor the social pages for the athletes says more about the athletic program than anything else. If the students are not capable of making semi-rational decisions about what to place on a social network, then should they be receiving financial aid as an athlete at a university? Or if they do choose to place an anti-social comment on a social network, then should they not be just removed from the athletic program? And why just athletes? Why not monitor the engineering program students? Or the English majors? This reminds me of a student whose past life involved playing sports for a university. He told me that he was provided with a tutor who traveled with the team on the bus and who would “help” him write his paper that was due during the next week. He knew that it was not for the better that he was being shielded from the real responsibilies of being an academic student.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Ditto Ken’s comment. Is it just me, or does this publication feel more like the lower reading level, shorter attention span, popular culture sensation version of the Chronicle?
February 19th, 2010 at 8:33 am
These students are adults. Instead of an Institution taking the Chinese Govt’s tactic to patroling and controling people and social networking, it could learn how to engage social networking for itself and encourage others with whom they share interests.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Come on, guys. These are kids who need guidance in the real world and being in the public spotlight. This is a great service to the coaches who can give athletes guidance about the typical statements that college students make without realizing the consequences. This is not an invasion of privacy or a violation of free speech – kicking them out of the program for what they post on FB would definitely be a violation of free speech. And, in regards to “why only athletes”… is the average English major a role model for thousands of kids and a very public representative of the school? I don’t think so.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Real world please… If an engineering student posts something inappropriate on Facebook, nobody but his friends know. If an athlete goofs, everybody knows. ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC… will make sure of that!
February 19th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Janice,
No, it is not just you that has that impression.
Donald,
Well stated indeed. You make some very good points which call into question the priorities of many institutions of ‘higher’ learning. But, sadly, despite voluminous discourse of the comportment of sports programs and their associated ‘tutoring’ programs, the issues surrounding these programs remain chronic, as this snippet ‘article’ exemplifies.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Yeah, Janice, go with that. Reading this is rather like browsing Cliffs Notes of the Educational Enquirer.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Listen to yourselves. Get off your asses and get to work.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Stick with the intern model. Software can’t do as good a job monitoring the sites.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Warnings about how a careless remark on a social networking site could affect them in the future should be sufficient. Colleges don’t have that kind of money to spend on monitoring the private actions of consenting adults.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:52 am
A a smart way to protect students’ and colleges’ reputations would be to offer all the students the support and mentoring for making good decisions independently, such as workshops and professional skills training for using social networking and media appropriately and effectively. As educators, we are preparing them to be leaders in a complex world. If we just police what they are doing instead of teaching them effective skills, what are they going to do AFTER college?
We are currently working to develop these workshops at our Junior College.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Since I monitor Embry-Riddle Worldwide’s social media I say one thing to the invasion of privacy question: Anything you put on the Internet is public no matter what your privacy settings may be on an individual site.
Elaine is quite right in that these are adults. Why should the institution be made responsible for an individual’s actions or even be held accountable?
In the good old days when I was in college we had the sense not to take pictures of ourselves partying.
February 19th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I agree with Jean Sumner; we are at a college to teach not ‘Police”. I cover these issues and others that have to do with becoming a professional and making smart, intelligent decisions about life in the orientation and college success classes for freshman. A workshop is also a great way to catch the other students who think they know too much and don’t need the freshman seminar type classes on college survival and success.
February 19th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I think concluding that the average student athlete is visible in the university or wider community is silly. Many are just as anonymous to the wider community as any other student. A small minority of them are highly visible and I can see a university being afraid of them posting something that the media can make a stink about. Saying that an athlete should be punished at a university in a way that non athletes would not be for doing similar things is silly. I hope that none of you truly think that athletes are being monitored because they are doing something out of the ordinary. Donald Day said: “Seems to me that the perceived need to monitor the social pages for the athletes says more about the athletic program than anything else.” How ridiculous; these students are not saying anythings worst than non athletes in general. The are just being monitored because of the potential of the media to blow what they say out of proportion because they are an athlete associated with an institution. Facebook is a private (publicly visible) endeavor of the individual and has nothing to do with the university in my opinion. If the athletes accept the monitoring however, an ounce of prevention is not a bad thing if they want advice on not doing something that might get blown out of proportion.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:38 am
We even have Olympians embarrassing their countries by their actions and inappropriate photos. Some have been sent home early. It seems we still need to monitor our students and at least let them know they’ve been “spotted” and that they should clean up their act as a public role model.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
[...] Damaging posts to Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites have sent many schools scrambling to develop a system to avoid embarrassment – including the University of Mississippi’s decision to employ a company to monitor their students’ pages f…. [...]