When it comes to social media preferences, I am a fiercely loyal Facebook user. I started off with a MySpace account back when those were still a thing, but I had some pretty negative experiences with it, so I moved on even before it died. I opened a Facebook account when I was working on my MA in Composition, but at that point I used it primarily for procrastinating, playing games and taking quizzes about which Disney/mythological/classic literature character I was rather than attempting to connect with my peers. When I moved to Tennessee to work on my PhD, however, Facebook became an important tool for me to stay connected with my friends back home as well as to forge new relationships with the people I was meeting in Knoxville. Whenever someone like Andrew Watts claims that Facebook is no longer hip or may be fading away, I get defensive. I don't deny that teenagers are using it less, I just don't want to imagine a world in which my ability to instantly structure my thoughts into witty Facebook updates will be about as useful as my skill at texting with T9.
I have dabbled in Twitter, but I haven't had the patience to stick with it long enough to build up the base of followers that would make posting to it feel like addressing my community the way that posting to Facebook does. I hope I am not as vapid as the "like" and "retweet" obsessed teenagers that Watt describes, but I do post to social media to feel connected to others, not to shout into a void.
Pinterest I avoid like the plague because I have enough time-sucks in my world already -- I don't need to be trying to post how-to videos of every crazy braid I do in my daughter's hair or be looking for more knitting or crochet projects to attempt.
I have a SnapChat solely because of my students. I first learned about it when one of them asked if she could send a snap of me making a disapproving look to her group member who hadn't shown up to class that day. I'm all about enforcing my attendance policy (and occasionally shaming students into compliance), so I agreed. Ten minutes later, the red-faced student rushed into our classroom, apologizing profusely and assuring his group that it would never happen again.
After beholding such power, one might assume that I immediately incorporated social media into my regular teaching practices, but I haven't, actually. I've only ever accepted two students' friend requests on Facebook, and that was after the semester had ended and final grades were turned in. While I get Katie Benmar's argument that teachers need to use social media to engage with students where their attention is already glued, I think of my social media presence as a vastly important, yet incredibly personal part of my identity, one I am not necessarily comfortable inviting my students into. This isn't because I'm posting incriminating photos of my wild partying (1. I know the Internet is forever and my employer will one day see what I say and 2. I have three kids -- it's ridiculous that I've managed to stay up past 11 o'clock writing this post, so no such photos exist) or because I want to complain about students but can't if they're reading my posts (though that is the reason I generally give them), but because I don't think they need to see pics of my kids or read my rants about the need for a better app for keeping track of chores. I already carefully monitor what I say to avoid angering my friends on the far right or left and to keep myself looking as employable as possible; I don't want to have to also be thinking about how my personal roles might influence my students' perception of and respect for me.
Perhaps I should be grateful, in light of these feelings, that young people are moving away from Facebook. If they aren't using it, then I can focus on incorporating those social media that are less connected to my identity but do offer the opportunity to engage students where they are, while keeping my favorite community to myself.
