This document discusses effective digital leadership and coaching of college student leaders regarding their social media use. It begins by outlining 5 points to understand how students view their online lives and the role of social media. It then discusses concepts like digital identity, digital reputation, self-presentation online, and how social media can impact self-esteem. The document draws from theories like Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and Baxter Magolda's theory of self-authorship to analyze student development in a digitally immersed world. It emphasizes the importance of teaching students to own rather than be owned by social media through limiting use, understanding perfectionism online, and embracing vulnerability.
3. 1. Understand how college student leaders view their
online life and the role social media plays in it.
2. Learn about and recall the real voices of students
and their struggles and successes online.
3. Describe how development looks the same and/or
different when college students are living their
lives immersed in digital worlds.
4. Identify opportunities and potentials for students to
take a lead in defining who they want to be and
what they want to do on line.
5. Guide students in their online choices as student
leaders.
5. Just because you use social media…
doesn’t mean you know
how to use it
well.
6. (Turkle, 2004, para 6)
“I want to study
not only what the
computer is doing
for us, but what it
is doing to us.”
- Turkle
7. 89%
of adults 18-29 years old use social media
67%
access it on mobile
98%
of adults ages 18-29 are on the internet
(Brenner, 2013; Brenner & Smith, 2013; Pew Internet Project, n.d.)
younger generations
are using the internet,
social media, and mobile
technologies at a high rate
14. “Many student affairs
professionals use the term
digital identity
development to refer to
online professional self-
presentation; however, it
is important to tease apart
the differences between
using social media as part
of the exploration and
development of identity
and using social media to
present oneself in a
certain way.”
(Junco, 2014, p. 257) @paulgordonbrown
15. “Labeling the latter digital
identity development
confounds a developmental
process with a professional
communication strategy.
Furthermore, labeling online
professional self-presentation
digital identity development
may keep the field of student
affairs from more critically
and deeply examining how
the emerging adult identity
development process is
affected by online
interactions.”
(Junco, 2014, p. 257)
19. DigitalIdentity/
Reputation vs
Digitized
Development
What We Produce vs What We Are
What Other People See vs How We See Ourselves
Can Be Taught
Through Rules
vs
Must Be Learned
Dynamically
A By-Product Of
Development
vs
The Developmental
Process Itself
31. Mesut reflecting on what he was taught about
social media growing up:
“I feel like in high school I was always told…
“Be careful what you put on your Facebook.
Be careful what you put on your Twitter. Blah
blah blah. You know people might see it…
I had never took that seriously. I thought no
one’s gonna look at my Facebook page, you
know what I mean? Stuff like that. But it’s
crazy how serious that is—just being
conscious about the content you put on social
media platforms.”
32. We need to educate
students on digital
reputation.
36. What is Self-Authorship?
A particular and relatively enduring way of
understanding and orienting oneself to
provocative situations in a way that:
1) Recognizes the contextual nature of
knowledge; and
2) Balances and guides this understanding
with the development of internally defined
goals and sense of self
37.
38. Student
exploration of
social media.
Does not
understand how
online and offline
interactions can
impact each other.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Absolute
Knowing
2nd
Order
digitizedstudentdevelopment
39. Student
exploration of
social media.
Does not
understand how
online and offline
interactions can
impact each other.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Student
commitment to
social media.
Develops usage
patterns and
begins to learn
online cultures
and etiquette.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Absolute
Knowing
Transitional
Knowing
2nd
Order
2nd / 3rd
Order
digitizedstudentdevelopment
40. Student
exploration of
social media.
Does not
understand how
online and offline
interactions can
impact each other.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Student
commitment to
social media.
Develops usage
patterns and
begins to learn
online cultures
and etiquette.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Absolute
Knowing
Student develops
an independent
identity online
Begins to make
choices about
one’s own
representation.
Exploration is on
student’s terms.
Transitional
Knowing
Individual
Knowing
2nd
Order
2nd / 3rd
Order
2nd / 3rd
Order
digitizedstudentdevelopment
41. Student
exploration of
social media.
Does not
understand how
online and offline
interactions can
impact each other.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Student
commitment to
social media.
Develops usage
patterns and
begins to learn
online cultures
and etiquette.
Strongly
influenced by
authorities and
peers.
Absolute
Knowing
Student develops
an independent
identity online
Begins to make
choices about
one’s own
representation.
Exploration is on
student’s terms.
Student makes
conscious choices
about social
media usage and
how it fits into life
desires, outlook
and goals.
Realizes that
online life is a
constant
renegotiation
process.
Transitional
Knowing
Individual
Knowing
Contextual
Knowing
2nd
Order
2nd / 3rd
Order
2nd / 3rd
Order
4th
Order
digitizedstudentdevelopment
43. Liam discussing setting goals for social media
use:
“Understand why you’re using social media:
Why are you engaging in this app?
Why are you letting it consume so much
of parts of your day?
Is it to connect with friends?
Just helping get an understanding of why you
do it. I think limiting your amount of time on
social media is a good thing to talk about.”
50. Hallie discussing how social media creates a
perfected image…
“I think it was cool that [my professor] asked
us think about the highlight reel. Do we use
social media as a highlight reel of our lives and
how many times out of ten would you say that
you wouldn't post something because it's not a
highlight.
And all of us were like, “Oh, all the time.”
He was like, “Go through your day. How many
things would you post, and how many wouldn't
you?”
51. …I would just encourage [educators] to ask
their students about recognizing—not
necessarily changing it—but recognizing that
what they post, and what other people post,
isn't 100 percent their lives. Because there's a
lot of times when you think that people have
the best life ever because of what they're
posting. When in reality they're going through
a lot, and probably many similar things that you
are, but because they're posting all this fun
stuff, you think that their lives are perfect.”
52. Logan discussing how social media can harm
one’s self esteem and self image…
“Well I think the biggest problem I faced with
social media is… What are your goals from
social media?
What are you there for?
Is it to get updated on your friends and then is
that what’s happening?
53. …For me it’s like if someone asked me are you
really just doing it to… is it only furthering the
comparison that’s happening? Since that’s
what’s, I assume, causing my greatest
dissatisfaction at [college]. Seeing my life in
comparison to others. Why? Maybe it’s time
to reevaluate.
So thinking about what people are trying to get
at from their accounts and what they’re
actually being used for. I think it’s a helpful
thing to reflect on.”
62. Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem Macrosystem
family, student orgs, groups and
contexts…
campus rules and cultures…
has relationships
and broader societal belief
systems.
Creating an overall context within
which interactions and processes
occur that impact a student’s
development through time.
63. Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem Macrosystem
“Although Bronfenbrenner
did not include computer-
mediated contexts in
which college students
now experience ‘activities,
roles, and interpersonal
relations’ (p. 16), in the
twenty-first century it
seems reasonable to
include these contexts,
which are not face-to-face
settings, in the definition of
microsystems since they
are sites where social,
physical, and symbolic
features may provoke or
retard engagement with
the environment, as
described by
Bronfenbrenner (1993).”
p.1
70. Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem Macrosystem
is in network with others…
is immersed in social media
site culture…
and is subject to rules and
decisions made by social
media designers…
…and broader beliefs
about how the site
functions and is used.
73. examples
context collapse
• Someone comments on a social media
post intended for a different audience
• When a friend sees something online and
makes assumptions about your life offline
• When an online post is taken out of context
of the conversation surrounding it online
75. learning
context collapse
• Learning rules of digital reputation through
consequences
• Understanding the complex overlapping
nature of relationships
• Learn to with between worlds, relationships
and languages
77. “The major
achievement of
normal development
was a firm and fixed
‘sense of identity’”
- Gergen
Traditional theories held that…
(Gergen, 2000, p. 41)@paulgordonbrown
78. We no longer exist
as playwrights or
actors but as
terminals of
multiple networks.
-Baudrillard
(Baudrillard, 1987/2012, p. 23)@paulgordonbrown
79. BLURRY
HYBRIDIZED
SATURATED
The online profile
“is and is not the user.”
(Martínez Alemán & Lynk Wartman, 2009, p. 23)
a “rupture” or “a series of
decisive far-reaching
breaks from the past”
(Bloland, 2005, p. 125)
an “implosion”
or a collapse of
boundaries
(Baudrillard, 1981/1995)
“singularity… a future period during
which the pace of technological
change will be so rapid, its impact so
deep, that human life will be
irreversibly transformed” (Kurzweil, 2005)
@paulgordonbrown
80. Maria discussing her Instagram profile:
“I think it's who I am
but also who I want
to be and who I want
to become.”
81. Adie discussing her friend who is constantly
on social media:
“I guess she experiences a lot of fo-mo in
general…. it's like you're consuming other
peoples' lives through social media. I guess
that might appeal to some people, in a sense,
not that they're necessarily upset that they
missed the event that someone else was at
because that person posted at it, but you get
to experience what you were doing and what
your friend was doing based on their post. So
in a way it's like you're passing on that
experience.”
82. Question
Research
How do college students conceptualize who they
are and how they present themselves when they
are engaged in digital and social media?
@paulgordonbrown
84. Is there an online you?
Is there an offline you?
Is there a Facebook you?
Is there a Twitter you?
Is there a student you?
Is there a family you?
Are there multiple “yous” within them?
@paulgordonbrown
85. Are you a different person
in these contexts?
Are you the same person?
@paulgordonbrown
91. Maria’s advice for college administrators
educating college students about social media:
“I think I'd say not to phrase it as a cautionary
tale, because it’s something that we’re never
gonna listen to… we know we know more than
administrators with social media.
So I think it should be more about trying to
really understand how we use it, and not just
look at it negatively, because I think it's so
stigmatized, but really understand how to work
with it, because it's not going away.”
104. Ashley discussing being vulnerable online…
“I would definitely say that social media is a
way to hide your true self and feelings and… I
think people need to be aware of that and
reflective of that when they're on it. I also think
a huge part of social media is hiding your
vulnerability. I think in society today people
look down upon people who are vulnerable and
try to hide their vulnerability as much as
possible. And they think social media helps
people hide their vulnerability because they're
hiding behind it in ways.
105. I think the only way that people can become
more comfortable in their being vulnerable is
having conversations with others about being
vulnerable. So I think that that could be
something that college administrators could
start… help students realize in social media,
and just in college life in general, we need to
stop trying to hide our vulnerabilities, and
instead be reflective on them and realize what
they need and how you can connect to others
through them.”
110. Gatsby on the importance of colleges and
universities engaging through social media:
“I think having [official college social media]
accounts is really important—the likes, the
retweets, things like that… in a way it’s a
reminder in the back of your head:
‘There are important people that can see this.’
Which I don’t think is a scare tactic, but it’s just a
good reminder and something that colleges can
do subconsciously to show students more that
they care, but then also remind the students, be
smart about what you’re putting on your Twitter
or tweeting at [college], because they’ll respond.”
120. Engage with students on social media because
we need to understand them in all of their
contexts. Be open to a different (not
necessarily better or worse) way.
Learn from and with students how to navigate
the online environment. Help them avoid
mistakes. Help them understand their self-
presentation and reputation online. Be a role
model.
Understand how social media may impact the
developmental process-both in light of current
theory and in ways we do not yet understand.
Be able to help students understand, navigate
and leverage it.