Social Media And Self-Expression

From home to school to work and everywhere in between, technology has defined the twenty-first century. It is changing the way people interact; instead of traditional face-to-face encounters, there it is now a hybrid interaction that takes place over the Internet (Martinez et al., 2009). Social media is the largest contribution to the speed at which humans communicate. Over the last decade, social media has become ubiquitous on college campuses globally, acting as a form of self-expression. While not every student may have an account, the majority of students and university employee’s, as well, are active users. Social media can be defined as “an online site that presents a platform used by individuals; it focuses on building and reflecting social relations in accordance with interests and/or activities” (Aydin, 2012, p. 1093).

Students typically see the positives of using social media. The digital outlet allows them to interact with others on a larger scale instantaneously. The recent phenomenon of “selfies” – a digital self-portrait taken with a camera or smartphone – lets users document specific moments to share them with their ‘friends’ and ‘followers.’ With social media outlets and practices endlessly changing, university administrations are trying to keep up with their students’ use. In order for universities protect their institution from the intrusion of social media, they first need to understand it and the risks that it poses.

The boundary lines between what activity is considered ‘public’ and what is ‘private’ has been blurred by social media (Maranto & Barton, 2010). What a user may ‘tweet’ or post has the potential to be seen by others outside of their ‘friends’ and ‘followers.’ These digital thoughts of college st...

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...lations” (Garber, p. 1). Administrations are not solely concerned with the privacy and safety of its constituencies, but their freedom of speech in the cyber world. A student’s activity on social media may be considered ‘private’ and personal business, but it is also done online in a public forum; thus reiterating the blurred boundary lines in Maranto’s findings. The lines between public and private, and social and professional lives of students and staff have become increasingly distorted as new advances in technology and social media emerge (Armstrong et al., 2008; Maranto et al., 2010). Considering much of the activity on social media takes place in the digital world off-campus, one of the greatest challenges social media presents higher education institutions with is the difficulty of keeping up in order to institute some form of control (Armstrong et al., 2008).