A friend of a friend was recently disciplined over a relatively harmless, yet not anonymous, tweet.

Essentially, they tweeted that it would be nice to go home and have a glass of wine after a long day of teaching.  This person does not teach at WSU.  They do teach at an institution that has no social media policy, but the lack of a  policy did not prevent them from getting in trouble.

People who teach in the public’s eye need to be aware of the dangers that they face with social media.  Part of this stems from people ‘friending’ everyone they know (I know that you cannot change a noun to a verb on a whim, but am trying to keep up with the times).  You are not instantly friends with someone just because you know them.   Additionally, keep in mind that your professional relationship with a professor/colleague is probably different than your relationship with your friends from college.

This is mainly a rehash of the post “Managing your Digital Identity” from 4-22, but a series of social media faux pas by friends and colleagues has kept this topic on my mind.