Thoughts on Facebook & MySpace
- Posted: 8/22/2006

These great social networking tools should be used with care.

Facebook and MySpace create many opportunities for interaction with friends, both old and new, but they also present new challenges for responsible use. Please keep the following thoughts in mind when networking on-line:

1. Just because this is a new technology that does not absolve you of the responsibility to use it in a legal and appropriate manner. Keep in mind your obligations regarding proper conduct as a citizen and as a student of this University.
2. Understand caching. Caching, in effect, means that if you post something on Facebook or MySpace, for a day or two, just to be funny or to make a point; even if you take it down or change it, it can remain accessible to the rest of the world on the Internet anyway. It can take quite awhile and a lot of work to have cached material removed from the Internet.
3. With the freedom to post what you want comes the responsibility to do so in your interests, not only for today, but also for who and what you want to be tomorrow. And also think of your personal safety. Cyberspace can have the effect of creating an illusion of intimacy that could prove dangerous for you in reality.
4. Think not only about what identity you create for yourself on-line, but also how you represent others. At the very least, be sure to take their feelings into account. You would not want to find yourself as a defendant in a tort case that alleged you invaded their privacy.