Wednesday, March 26, 2014

What's your home phone number is so 20th Century...

Recently, I saw a tweet of Harvard University's Athlete information form. And, though it still asked for a home phone and a cell phone (since living on my own since 2002, I have never had a home phone - only a cell phone), it asked something important to students: what are your social media names for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. This is a shift in how we define ourselves and how we communicate.


Not only do colleges want to see a student's social media presence, they identify students based upon it. Initially, this brought up discussions on digital citizenship. but it also makes me think about the way we identify ourselves. We are no longer "John Smith at 412 Berkley Street." Rather, we are @johnsmith or some other social media handle. When I attend SXSWedu a few weeks ago, I no longer handed out business cards, but gave out my Twitter handle instead. We are changing our identity and way of identifying each other.

What discussion does this entail for students? Do colleges intend to search each students' social media presence? Do they hold students accountable for their social media presence? Do they educate students on their presence?

And, what does this hold for the future of job searches? Will you put your social media handles on your resume? Will this become the professional form of communication?

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