I’ll say it, I love to cyber sleuth. Any new person I meet should expect to be creeped on all forms of social media (sorry not sorry).
This week I was able to cyber sleuth my friend Sam Froude. I decided to start by using her full name, Samantha, and the first thing that comes up is an old Facebook account. Anyone that doesn’t know her previously wouldn’t know this is an old account so I think she might be upset that I found this page (sorry Sam). This is essentially full of all of the things you would expect to see from a young girl on social media: old pictures, Wizards of Waverly Place, Justin Bieber, dogs, and so on. Since I am friends with Sam, I have access to her actual Facebook account which is much more current and gives a better idea of who she is. If you’re curious, it seems like Sam is still a huge Belieber. I think her Facebook page really shows how much she cares about her education and becoming a teacher. She is always posting different quotes and stories regarding education. She is also very interested in issues that we see all over the media in our area. She is an advocate for Indigenous rights and she is very vocal about this. This advocacy will truly benefit her as a teacher. She is also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. We can also get a sense of who she is as a friend. She is always supporting her friends via social media. Sam is from Swift Current, Saskatchewan and she attended Swift Current Comprehensive. She played badminton in high school and it even says she got fourth in girls singles. Sam’s E-Portfolio also comes up when you search her name. She has an amazing “Who Am I?” section in her E-Portfolio which tells you a lot about who she is. She loves travelling, murder mysteries and documentaries, garden indoors, and working with kids. She is an active member of her community and she truly values the opportunities volunteering allows her to have. Digital identity is permanent. Social media and technology is a lot of fun but we have to remember that what we post stays there forever. Having a positive digital identity in this day and age is very important. So many employers search the people they are hiring on the internet to find more about them. This activity has caused me to really reflect on who I am on social media and the internet. In the article, ‘Having multiple online identities is more normal than you think’ they discuss how a different version of one’s self is on different social media platforms. I completely agree with what they say. My Instagram is private and I use it to reach my friends more than my family. My Facebook is intended to reach my family and my community members. Twitter is something I have never really used until I started this class but I now use it as a more professional platform for my teaching career. As they say in this article, “Different sites, different audiences, different people.” I think oftentimes I come across as a different person on all my social media sites, so now I sit here and think, is that a bad thing? I don’t think that it is. I like that I can organize how I post based on the audience I am posting for. Not only does it keep me more organized, but I believe that it’s good that I cater towards my audience. Sometimes people do not really care about what I post on Instagram or Facebook. I think the important thing is to remember to be smart about what we are posting. In the TED Talk, How one tweet can ruin your life, we are reminded about how important it is to think before we post. Social media is harsh. When we post shameful secrets and ideas, people we do not even know become invested in what we say. Our audience automatically becomes much larger and much more judgemental. All in all, we need to remember how much bigger the world of social media is than our personal world. We reach so many more people via social media so we need to be careful about what we post and remember what we are putting on the line when we post something. I know that I personally plan to be more active on social media about things I care about but, at the same time, really monitor what I say and how I say it because it is so important to give my audience the best possible version of myself.
1 Comment
6/19/2022 06:45:28 pm
Such a thoughtful & sweet post Taylor <3 Trust me, there is no need for concern on if I will be upset or embarrassed about my uneducated social media use *eye roll*. I have tried to delete the accounts, but I am a tough cookie to crack when hit comes to passwords!!
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