I am Michelle Luhtala, library department chair at here NCHS, and this is Cathy Swan, Technology Integration Teacher for the humanities. My colleague Christina Russo is over there, and this is Dr. Miller, the NCPS Director of Technology. Welcome!

Disclaimer: I am not a huge FB fan. And I am not a FB expert.

In preparation for this workshop, we posted a survey to our website back in December. It stayed up for a month. Almost 400 students took it 23% - our highest survey response rate in history, and we do a lot of surveys.

It was twenty questions. It was a little more detailed than the one you took, if you took it . We had 50 parent responses, BTW.

Some of the responses were predictable. Overall, there was remarkable consistency between student and parent perceptions of how kids spent their FB time.

Then, there were a few discrepancies. 54% of parents felt they checked their kids FB page with some regularity

70% of students felt their parents never or almost never checked their FB pages

Parents are more measured in their preferences. Eight percent on each end of the spectrum and 82% in the middle. .

76% of students rated FB in the middle range, but 15% said they couldn’t live without it.

This was the most glaring discrepancy, and it may be more of a reflection of the communication disconnect that occurs between teens and parents than anything involving social media. Sixty percent of parents said they talk to their kids often about their FB activity. Do you want to guess what percentage of students said their parents talked to them often about their FB activity?

Six.

These are student responses. 57% of kids check their FB between 1-6 times per day.

This was a little disconcerting and it made me wish we’d asked an open-ended follow-up question. Who are these people they don’t know?

Would you like to guess?

So we thought that was very interesting, but we wanted to compare our results to those from students in schools that block FB. A week ago, we started distributing the survey to other students in other schools.

So far, we’ve collected 180 responses. Most answers so far are from CT, but we did get nearly 30 from out of state. We are still collecting responses, so we haven’t fully analyzed them yet, but we did make three interesting observations based on our preliminary results.

In looking at how kids spent their time on FB in blocked schools versus unblocked schools…

The answers were remarkably consistent in all but three areas.

12% MORE FB time on school work 6% LESS FB time sharing photos and video 8% LESS FB time talking about books, music and movies We learned that students in unblocked schools use it as a productivity tool, whereas those in blocked schools use it more for social purposes.

This photo was taken last year in an NCHS computer lab. Every student in that class is on his/her facebook page. Kids were asked to find a photo of themselves, and this is where everyone went. What’s the upside to this activity?

If 70% of students feel unsupervised on FB, and only 6% perceive that they are frequently discussing their FB activity with their parents.

This situation makes them think twice about how they are managing their profiles.

How can FB be used in school? Our library FB page is a veritable cornucopia of information. And while it may feel disorganized to adults, students are completely acclimated to this kind of randomness. Link to YouTube channel Collaborative projects Other pages – town library, teen center, database vendors, research organizations Early dismissal instructions Research instructions NCHS events announcements Community events announcements Annual report Thank yous Curricular programming Featuring student work

Here are some things that our teachers said about using FB in school

So that is how it is used in school, now let’s take a step back and see why it is so important for kids to learn to use it wisely. Watch movie. But until FB is subjected to oversight & regulation, the organization is a little tricky to navigate when it comes to privacy. And that is what Cathy is going to talk about now.

FB is fun. It’s exciting to connect with old friends and even make new ones, but we have to be aware that on FB many of us are mapping our lives. Here are some of the bits of information that we’re putting out there for all to see. Since FB privacy settings are complex and time-consuming, plus they change often, many of us just shrug our shoulders and trust our fate to FB managers. Big mistake!! You really need to weigh every option and choose carefully. So today’ I’m going to show you how to customize your FB page. Yousendit

FB is fun. It’s exciting to connect with old friends and even make new ones, but we have to be aware that on FB many of us are mapping our lives. Here are some of the bits of information that we’re putting out there for all to see. Since FB privacy settings are complex and time-consuming, plus they change often, many of us just shrug our shoulders and trust our fate to FB managers. Big mistake!! You really need to weigh every option and choose carefully. So today’ I’m going to show you how to customize your FB page. Yousendit

Facebook has default settings which make it seem easy. But beware! Remember that the goal of Facebook is to connect you to others: friends, family, people from your past life, and strangers. So how to you keep from mapping your life for the whole world to see? It’s not fast and it’s not necessarily easy but it’s certainly worthwhile!

Today we’ll take a look at some of the privacy settings available to you on FB. Our message to you is that you need to check every screen, click on every link, weigh every option, think of every consequence of your decisions, and revisit your account settings often to make sure nothing has changed. FB is constantly evolving. Just when you think your settings are correct, they update it and you have to start again.

This is what I saw when I logged on yesterday. When I showed it to Rob, he said he had never seen those windows before. Last night when I logged on, I saw still another window asking for information. The tendency is to supply it. See a blank, fill it in. See a box, check it off. Afterall, it says in big letters that FB is updating my security information. That’s a good thing, right? Well, maybe…maybe not. Read every word, weigh the consequences of filling it in or leaving it blank.

In the upper right corner of your FN page are 3 options: Home, Profile and Account. Under account, you’ll find account and privacy settings as well as the Help Center. Let’s start with the account settings.

We saw this privacy settings window when we followed links from email. FB offers you the opportunity to modify the visibility of your contact information. And that leads you to this next window where you now have 10 more decisions to make. This is where many people look at their watch, throw up their hands and determine to trust FB’s judgement. DON’t do that! Let’s take a closer look at this privacy window.

So you can share all of these items with everyone, friends of friends (how bad could that be????), or only your personal friends . You can click on each option to check the differences. Then there’s something called Recommended. That’s what this screen shows you – FB’s recommended settings. What do you think? Is there anything there that you don’t agree with for you or for your children? Remember the point of FB is to connect you with people. FB won’t offer you the safest settings as the default but they will allow you to choose them. Finally, at the bottom, we see that FB will allow you to Customize your selections, placing the checkmark exactly where you want it. Finished deciding? Well, go ahead and apply those settings, but don’t run off yet. There are 3 more menus of choices in this small window and don’t forget the 8 categories that we haven’t dealt with on the previous screen! Remember to Apply These Settings. ( Clicking on Customize settings allows you to select the privacy setting for each function. Share a tagged post with friends of the friend I tag. Means tags that are attached to posts on your wall.) (Click to bring up the Done? Not yet! Box) But you’re not done yet! (next slide)

When you customize settings, you get a whole other set of choices including another option to customize further.

The finest level of customization reads only people I specify and only me. Selecting those choices will result in the Other category in the window in the lower corner.

We don’t have time to review every screen looking for links to selections, but I hope you have seen how to go about customizing your own FB page or those of your children. Notice that there are still 3 more sets of links that can be accessed from this same Privacy Settings page.

Leaving your settings on default allows everyone to see the events you’re planning. Is your family leaving for winter break? Does the world know your house will be empty? And what groups do you belong to? Are the group apps opening your profile to the public?

Remember that first screen we looked at? It had lots of tabs. Don’t give up after going through the settings on the first tab. This is what you’ll be missing in the Notifications tab. This is a screen that allows you to ask FB to send you notification if the following occurs: someone sends you a message, adds your as a friend, and on and on. Check the Photos section. Do you want your friends to tag you on photos? If so, their friends and potentially friends of their friends will see photos where you’re tagged. So lots of people will know what you look like. BTW, you can turn off tagging in photos for friends and friends of friends.

Friends send links for all sorts of fun innocent looking things, such as games, birthday reminder calendars, causes, and more… but by clicking on it you’re giving access to your personal content. The apps access your personal private data. FB warns you when you download or join, but people have a bad habit of not reading the details.

That’s about all we have time for. But remember, there are endless screens like these that need your attention and FB changes them often. These settings determine how you find other people and how they find you. If you leave your settings open, you will be able to pull up their my friends list, open their accounts and invite them to friend you or just check out their list. Even though your friends might have their privacy settings on high.

You can find the FB Help Center in the Account pull-down menu. Refer to it often especially since FB changes things weekly. If you don’t see the link you want, use the search bar for specifics. And you can always search Google and YouTube for tutorials.

FB4Rents New Canaan High School Parent Faculty Association Michelle Luhtala, Cathy Swan & Robert Miller February 10, 2011

Today’s game plan And the survey says! Uses in school Profiles & Settings Security Q&A

90% kids have accounts (4% more than one) 70% parents have accounts 2% kids keep “secret” accounts Parent & kid perception of how FB time is managed is consistent

Parents

Parents Kids

Parents

Kids Parents

How often do you check FB?

8% admit connecting w/strangers

On which other social media sites do you maintain a profile?

YouTube 74%

YouTube 74% Pandora 45%

YouTube 74% Pandora 45% Twitter 35%

YouTube 74% Pandora 45% Twitter 35% Tumblr 19%

YouTube 74% Pandora 45% Twitter 35% Tumblr 19% MySpace 10%

Should schools block FB?

“Believe it or not, facebook can be extremely helpful in school. Using it to connect to friends about academics and homework is always nice to rely on. The people who use facebook in a 'unwise' fashion is their fault... and if their grades suffer leave it as a message not to go on facebook unless its helpful to academics. It’s their fault and there’s no reason to take facebook away just because some students don’t use the time online in a wise way.”

“Facebook is a great way for people to quickly communicate throughout the school day, since most people check it more often then there email. It's a good way to schedule school activities and meetings because communicating through it is very effective.”

“It's a student's responsibility to use the resources at school responsibly, and that includes social networking websites! It's all a part of time management.”

Results from 1- DC 1- LA 1- MD 2- MI 1- NC 3- NY 5- PA 1- SC 1- TX 7- AL 2- AR 2- CO 149 from CT

12% MORE FB time on school work 6% LESS FB time sharing photos and video 8% LESS FB time talking about books, music and movies

“…model ethical and productive use of social networks.” Librarian

“We created a group to communicate about a large scale project.  I know it's a critical tool with Student Coalition - Groups, Invites, Messaging, etc. model ethical and productive use of social networks.” Science

“…ALL ALL ALL ALL the time. It is the best way to communicate with students. They want to know grades? They have to IM FB me. Then I save the conversations. We also discuss their projects via FB chat.” Music

“…Facebook as a portal for them to upload pictures and videos from home that they will then include in a PowerPoint or website.  It can handle the size of the pics and videos more easily than a flashdrive and will do conversions to different software easily.” English

“I wouldn't say I use it IN the classroom, but I have a special account just for my classes, where I post the hw every evening, and also any important upcoming dates.” World Languages

Mapping Your Life on FB Gender Birth date Hometown School Political views Religious affiliations Personal statements Lists of hobbies Social groups Lists of favorite things Employment histories Work schedule Email addresses Phone numbers Relationship status. Thanks to About.com Advice for Teens http://teenadvice.about.com/od/currenteventsissues/a/facebooksafe.htm

Mapping Your Life on FB Event announcements Party attendance lists Friend lists Group lists Fan pages The Wall where friends post messages - often personal! Other online presence (Twitter, Pandora, Diigo) Photos – with tags! Personal essay Thanks to About.com Advice for Teens http://teenadvice.about.com/od/currenteventsissues/a/facebooksafe.htm

Why customize when you can default? Default Settings

Where should you begin? Wait a few weeks and repeat steps 1-2-3!

Update security information 2/9/2011 What’s this all about?

Where do you begin?

My Account /Settings

My Account /Settings Done? ………………………………Not yet!

Privacy Settings

My Settings

What are you planning and with whom?

Apps, Features and Games

Connecting on FB

FB Help Center