Educational Technology: Facebook Communication

(Creating a Facebook Page for Parent Communication)

Why would a school or teacher want to create a Facebook page? The answer is simple- that is where their parents are. It is a potentially great medium to share the latest news just because it has a great chance of being seen. Posts will appear in your parents' Facebook news feeds along with all of the other posts in their network.

However, there is a lot of fear of using Facebook professionally by teachers and other school officials. This is justifiable because Facebook has a lot of features and murky privacy settings. Also there are Federal and local laws and policies to worry about.

So, what do you do to take advantage of Facebook's unmatched communication potential while protecting yourself professionally? My best advice is to create a Facebook "page".

A Facebook "page" is different from a full Facebook "profile". A page can have unlimited followers and does not have "friends". However, when someone clicks the "Like" button on a page, he or she will be "subscribed" to the news posted on that page. Also, his or her network of friends will see that in their news feed. Thus, your community will help spread the positive news coming from your school or classroom.

However, there are a few things you should keep in mind if you choose to create a Facebook page for your school or class.

Best Practices for Creating a Facebook Pages for your School or Class

Create an entirely new Facebook profile to generate your school/class page(s). Keep your online professional and personal "worlds" separate.

If you are not the principal of your school, get explicit permission to create a page for your school. It is also not a bad practice to clear the idea of a classroom Facebook page with your administration before moving forward.
DPS Board Policy 5150 states the following:
Employees may not use personal web sites or online networking profiles to post information in an attempt to communicate with students in their roles as school system employees.
Within the District firewall, Facebook and Twitter are blocked for students by the District's Web filter to adhere to CIPA regulations, but are accessible by staff.

Do not allow followers of your page to post comments, videos, etc.
Facebook has a minimum age of 13, so do not use the service to send news to students 12 or younger.
Use the "Question" post option to gather feedback in a controlled way.