RA360: Social Media and Your Digital Reputation
TL;DR
Social media and technology are important skills to master, even more so with the rapid pace of change. For your residents, and for you as a leader in your community, it’s important to be aware of your digital reputation, develop strong digital skills and digital literacy, and the impact social media can have on mental health.
You and your residents are probably online and on a number of social media sites. It’s an ever-present reality in today’s world. But WHO are you online? WHAT do you do online? WHY are you online?
It’s often too easy to just get online and start posting and liking without thinking about your purpose for being online and the potential consequences. This page will help. It can provide tips for you as a person and a student staff member, and also some topics you may wish to educate your residents on.
Your Digital Reputation
Digital Footprint + Digital Shadow = Digital Stamp
One thing you need to be mindful of (whether you are a student staff member or not) is your digital reputation. Eric Qualman calls this your digital stamp. Your digital stamp is composed of two things:
- Digital Footprint: What you post yourself
- Digital Shadow: What other people post about you
Why does this matter? Think about when you first meet someone. What is the first thing you do? You google them. You look them up on Instagram. It’s likely that you’ll be googled a lot in your life… by potential mates… employers… and even your residents. What impression do you want them to walk away with?
And it’s not just the things you post. Your digital shadow is the things others may post. They may take pictures or video of you. As a student staff member, you have an elevated role in your community, and that means that you’re likely to be watched and scrutinized a bit more than others in your community. How you act, even when you think no one is watching, also matters.
Take some time to do a digital check of your life online. This is also something you can encourage your residents to do. One of the greatest things about college is that it’s often a safer place to make mistakes and learn. But maybe you don’t want those mistakes documented online for all eternity…
Check out these suggestions for protecting your digital reputation:
- Stop and think about any content before you post or send it – would you be comfortable with a potential employer seeing it?
- Treat others respectfully online, as you would like to be treated.
- Adjust your privacy settings so things you don’t want to be public don’t appear online. For example, you could limit access to your posts so only close friends see them. It’s also a good idea to regularly check that your settings are still right…
- Remove the tag or mention if you’re uncomfortable about anything others have posted. If you can’t do this yourself, ask the person who posted it to un-tag you, edit you out or take it down.
- Search your name and image regularly, to make sure what’s online is OK. Remove anything you no longer think is appropriate, if it’s from your own account or site – if you have forgotten the security details for an old account, the service or platform may be able to help you, if you can provide information to verify your identity. If someone else controls the account or site, you may be able to ask the person (or organisation) to remove it.
Just Because You Know How To Use Social Media, Doesn’t Mean You Know How To Use It Well.
What is Digital Literacy?
“Digital literacy is an individual’s ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information using typing or digital media platforms. It is a combination of both technical and cognitive abilities in using information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and share information.” – Wikipedia
Some people mistakenly believe that just because they are on and use social media, they are “social media experts.” Navigating online spaces, however, takes some real skills. Some use the term digital literacy to describe these and related skills.
This article discusses four digital soft skills that college students need to master:
- Digital Focus
- Digital Decision Making
- Applying Empathy Online
- Digital Problem Solving
The rest of this page goes over other topics and skills that might fall under the heading of digital literacy.
Using Social Media For Your Career
Social media can help you and your residents land a job. If you’re thinking about how it can help you start in your career, the most likely platform that is going to come up is… LinkedIn.
There is no shortage of online articles and videos giving your tips and advice on how to craft the best LinkedIn profile to get the job you want. The advice is too numerous and evolving to present here, but a quick search and a visit to your Career Services office will help.
Some of the most common pieces of advice you’ll find include:
- Use a professional photo
- Craft a good headline and summary
- Include relevant experience, awards, and involvement
- Share actual work products you’ve produced (blogs, videos, etc.)
- Build your network
- Get recommendations and endorsements
Social Media and Mental Health
Social media can get a bad rep, and for some good reasons. The relationship between social media use and some mental health concerns is well documented. But it can also have some very positive benefits as well. When does the good outweigh the bad? Most anything can turn bad if not used in moderation.
Some of the negative consequences of too much social media use can include:
- Loneliness
- Stress
- Inability to focus
- Sleep disruption
- Cyberbullying
Dr. Josie Ahlquist, an expert on social media use in the college and university context, writes and shares a lot about online behavior and its impact on college students. She share a number of videos you see here as well as research and tips into the impact of social media on college-aged students.
- Cultivating Digital Wellness Skills in College Students
- Benefits and Consequences of College Students Online
Fake News… AI… ChatGPT… Still Evolving
AI is changing everything. Although it can be an incredible helpful tool, it also comes with challenges. This is a difficult topic to discuss because the technology is moving so fast. Here are some videos to get you get thinking…
How To Spot Fake AI-Generated Video
What about information you see online? How do you determine what is true and reputable and what might be fake.
Fake news? Fake images? Fake videos? We all have to get better at spotting misinformation online.
Use ChatGPT to write essays for school? Students beware of this…
What about your own use (and your residents use) of AI tools. If you’re using AI tools to help with your academic work, there’s a few things you should think about. This is also a great topic to help educate your residents on.
Taking A Social Media Detox
Sometimes you need to just unplug. Whether it’s in general, or during specific periods like finals week. Getting off social media for a week, or a month, can often be a good strategy for helping you “reset” your relationship with it.
If you haven’t tried a detox, give it a try. You might also consider making it a challenge for your community… can everyone get off social media for a week? Have a community meeting at the end to talk through what you discovered. It’s a healthy habit to get into every now and then.
Check out this article from Dr. Josie Ahlquist who had the students in her class take a social media break as an assignment. She includes quotes from students in their own words about what they discovered about themselves and their relationship with social media.
Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?
Questions To Ponder:
- Google yourself. How do you think others would interpret and judge what they find?
- What is your reason for being online? What are your goals?
- What digital soft skills do you think you need to develop more? What’s your plan for doing that?
- How can social media help you further your career goals?
- Have you felt negative effects of social media use on your mental health? Have you seen this in your residents?
- Try taking a social media detox for a week. What did you discover?
- Do you know your college’s policies on using AI to help with your academic work?
- How do you cite and critically evaluate the quality of information you find online?
RA360 Outcomes:
RAs and student staff members will be able to:
- Identify how their their digital reputation may be viewed by others.
- Construct a digital identity according to their preferences and goals being online.
- Utilize digital soft skills.
- Utilize social media to further career aims.
- Describe the impact of social media on mental health.
- Apply strategies for mitigating social media mental health concerns.
- Identify fake content and the appropriate use of AI technologies.
More To Explore
RA360 is a set of resources organized around skills, topics and competencies relevant to Resident Advisors and similar related student staff positions in college and university residence halls.
