Social Networking: Things To Be Aware Of.

Don't get me wrong, I think social networking on the web is fantastic. I've been able to keep in touch with friends over the years I otherwise would not have. I've been able to share in some cool moments with friends who I'm not on the "top 10 people I need to call' list as they announce life changing events. And hey, who isn't touched when you get 100 birthday wishes on your birthday?

But, there are things to be aware of. And I'm not just talking about the picture of the high school track star holding a red plastic cup at a party that could contain water or beer or kool-aid or... , or that nasty post you left your ex-girlfriend that's now public. I'm talking about some things I've been learning about the privacy settings that you can control that you should be aware of.

Did you know on Facebook you can appear in the ads that appear on the sidebar of your friend's profiles? It's a way for them to target their audience even more closely... but if you don't want to do that the option is at: Settings > Privacy > News Feed and Wall > Facebook Ads > Appearance in Facebook Ads = No one.

Here's the text they put with it: Facebook occasionally pairs advertisements with relevant social actions from a user's friends to create Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. These respect all privacy rules. You may opt out of appearing in your friends' Facebook Ads below.

It's really a brilliant bit of marketing, but if you're not comfortable with it, like I'm not you can turn it off.

On a more positive note, you can use Twitter to group-text people your tweets. Now, I don't think this should be used for things like "I just got up- having coffee now", (I'd be beyond annoyed if I was getting texts like that) but what if a school were to use that for, say.. .a snow day. If at 6 AM everyone who opted in to get the updates got a text that said "Weds. Jan 16, school cancelled due to weather. Call 555-555-5555 with questions." Most high school kids I know have text message capabilities (and most send more in a month than I do in a year...) the service is free, and the student's don't need to have a Twitter account to follow it.

To use this, all you do is setup a Twitter account for your school (or group or team or...) and to follow it you send the following text: "follow [Twitter Account Name Here]" to 40404 The only thing is I haven't yet figured out how to unsubscibe. Maybe the same text only "Unfollow"?

Either way, the capabilities with that are pretty cool. (And the potential for mischief...). But I think it's something schools should definately think about! Reach the kids on the medium that they're using!