Oppgaver og aktiviteter

Social Media - Tasks

Based on the resource: Social Media - Introduction

The good thing about Facebook is that you decide yourself who may get access to your site. However, you don’t know if these people pass this information on or let others use their account. And - unlike safely sharing your feelings and ideas with a friend, while hiking in the woods - information given on Facebook is forever shared, and it may be spread and copied. In a wider perspective, the Internet is a very recent invention that we still need to learn how to handle. Creating awareness is the first step in this process.

After having discussed the topics below, you may arrange a class discussion where you discuss the new social media and how they may enrich our lives as well as mess them up. Finish the class discussion by making a ten-point list of Internet advice, and put it up on the class message board.

Discussion

Are people in general concerned with personal safety when they surf the Internet?
What does the option of being anonymous do to us? Does it make us tougher, nicer, crazier or more irresponsible?
Should it be illegal to be anonymous online, in order to improve Internet safety?
A woman wrote that her boss was a ‘naggin old bitch’ on her Facebook site. It was only intended for friends. A friend showed it to the boss, and she got in big trouble. What can you learn from this?
Have you done things you regret on the Internet – like harassing or bullying people you know at school? How would you characterise such behaviour, and what can be done to reduce the problem of net bullying?

Tips and Hints for Using Facebook

Here is some advice on dos and don’ts from teenadvice.about.com.

Read them in pairs, and discuss whether or not you agree with each of them. Also, discuss if any pieces of advice should be added.

Don't regard this list as anything but a suggestion made on one Internet site. You must make your own decisions and seek advice elsewhere to complement what is said here. Rules and policies of web sites may also differ and be subject to change.

What to do

Do use your real name since the idea behind these sites is for friends to stay in touch and reconnect. If you use a fake name people you knew in elementary school, from summer vacations, from real-life social groups you have left and friends who moved away, will not be able to find you.
Do use a real picture of you in your profile. For the same reasons you should use your real name, a real picture of you is a must. People can’t tell if you’re you from your name alone. That being said, keep the picture you post modest, provocative pictures send the wrong message.
Do create your photo albums with privacy settings so only your friends can see them. You can change the settings in the future if you want but it is always best to limit who can see the more intimate moments of your life.
Do tag the pictures you post so that friends know when you have put their picture online. It is just common courtesy to let people know when you have put their likeness on the internet.
Do use the Facebook privacy settings to limit who can see your full profile. Set it so that only friends can see things like your pictures, your wall, and your personal and contact information.
Do create a private group for you and your close friends. Make the group administrated and by invite only and only allow friends to join if you know them in real life.
Do limit the type of email notifications that come to you from Facebook. If you don’t you could find your email bombarded by Facebook messages.
Do report any threats of violence or other inappropriate posts or images to Facebook and to the proper real world authorities like school officials, parents and police.

What not to do

Don’t leave the default Facebook privacy settings as set. Go in and customize your privacy. Of particular importance, limit what people can see when you poke or message them before you have added them as a friend. The default setting allows people who are not friends yet and whom you poke or message to see your entire profile.
Don’t be afraid to allow some people to only see a limited version of your profile. Limited profiles show things like your profile picture, your name, and your basic info but do not show things like your wall, your interests, your contact info and any images of you that are not used as in your profile..
Don’t ever announce on your wall, or on any public wall, where you plan to go or who you plan to go with. Cyber stalkers are a real threat and if you have one this tells them where to find you in real life.
Don’t be afraid to join public groups about interests you share. Just be careful what you post on the walls of these groups.
Don’t accept Facebook invites to events. If you plan to attend send your acceptance using a private message or tell the host when you see them in person.
Don’t use Facebook to bully, harass, spread rumors, challenge fights or otherwise incite violence. Facebook is a social utility, not an anti-social utility.

Research

These are examples of social media taken from Wikipedia. How many of these do you know or use? Pick five of these types of social media and make a written presentation of each of them. Focus on the user-friendliness, special features and dos and don'ts of the media in question. If you need brief definitions of these, the following search, in e.g. google, will return useful definitions: define: vlogs Social media can take many different forms, including

pictures and video. Technologies include:

blog

, picture-sharing,

vlogs

, wall-postings,

instant messaging

, music-sharing,