Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Dkk5685 · #1 09-24-2006, 10:55 PM

Perhaps this has been discussed prior so I would like to apologize in advance...

Basically, a couple of the girls in my sorority are going to be 'stalking' our facebook profiles (couldn't imagine it be too long until our myspace profiles are under fire too) for anything they deem inappropriate. We have to comply with what they would like us to do or else face further punishment, etc. I'm just going to leave out my personal objections to this, but has anyone else encountered this too?

I've heard all about people not getting jobs, etc., because of their facebook profiles and so on can be used to 'research' you, and you do not want a potential employer to find something bad, so I try to keep mine rated G and I understand from that aspect.

Kevin · #2 09-24-2006, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dkk5685

Perhaps this has been discussed prior so I would like to apologize in advance...

Basically, a couple of the girls in my sorority are going to be 'stalking' our facebook profiles (couldn't imagine it be too long until our myspace profiles are under fire too) for anything they deem inappropriate. We have to comply with what they would like us to do or else face further punishment, etc. I'm just going to leave out my personal objections to this, but has anyone else encountered this too?

I've heard all about people not getting jobs, etc., because of their facebook profiles and so on can be used to 'research' you, and you do not want a potential employer to find something bad, so I try to keep mine rated G and I understand from that aspect.

We've had some issues with facebook profiles. I won't go into any detail, but people can really be stupid about what they allow the public access to.

If girls in your chapter are violating RM procedures while posting those things on their myspace profiles without the knowledge of your officers and someone from HQ stumbles across one of those photos, your chapter could face serious consequences, or at the very least, your reputation will suffer.

I think it's a smart thing. Like you said, there's nothing on your profile to be ashamed of. If one of your sisters had something on there that you'd be ashamed of, would you like her and whatever she was doing attached to your organization?

AUDeltaGam · #3 09-24-2006, 11:04 PM

I've heard from my undergrad chapter that if a sister has anything "inappropriate" in her profile (ie, drinking), she is not allowed to have "Delta Gamma" in her profile, just "my sorority".

KatieKate1244 · #4 09-24-2006, 11:11 PM

I was at a DZ convention in Feb., and I heard a lot of chapters had to have their various profiles to be DZ approved, or they couldn't say "Delta Zeta" or DZ anywhere in there.

Last year when I was risk management chair I gave out a letter to all the members talking about how others can see profiles, and to be careful of what you put on there.

tunatartare · #5 09-24-2006, 11:17 PM

I personally do not know of anyone who got in trouble for a facebook or myspace profile. However, a sorority at my school got into a lot of trouble and faced serious ramifications for what was posted on their Yahoo group. In general, my school encourages everyone to keep facebook and myspace profiles private.

Buttonz · #6 09-24-2006, 11:24 PM

I can understand...I've seen al ot of stuf on facebook profiles that I know I wouldn't want there...or my letters...so I can udnerstand why chapters are becoming strict with things like this.

EE-BO · #7 09-25-2006, 12:53 AM

I think there was actually some national news coverage on this in the last couple of days. The story was that some high schools and colleges are looking through facebook to see if students have profiles that reference the school and also include photos of things like underage drinking.

Makes sense to me- especially for Greek organizations. Face it- we are like country clubs. We have the same rights as anyone else, but for all practical purposes there is a large segment of America that considers us elitist drunks.

I could care less what such people think since their ignorance and stereotyping makes them just as hypocritical as they think we Greeks are- but we also have a responsibility to not give them any ammunition to gain converts.

As for me, I don't have facebook or myspace because I am so incredibly good looking and I don't want to be stalked and chased by thousands of strangers.

And in the end- I don't understand why someone would want to air their life on the internet. I am perfectly happy with the place I occupy in my own community. Even in person it pays to remain relatively unknown to those who are not your friends. Those who need to know certain things about me will be made to know them- by me and in my own time.

So I do not understand the appeal of making one's life available for public consumption. It can seldom do good, but it can sure bring great harm.

greekalum · #8 09-25-2006, 06:01 PM

Also, you're a fool if you think that your university staff and faculty don't check facebook sites already anyway. They won't tell you to take anything off, but they will be making judgments about your judgment based on what they see. Your sorority's doing you a favor, really, if you don't already know how to be discreet about your more unsavory activities.

KSigkid · #9 09-25-2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekalum

Also, you're a fool if you think that your university staff and faculty don't check facebook sites already anyway. They won't tell you to take anything off, but they will be making judgments about your judgment based on what they see. Your sorority's doing you a favor, really, if you don't already know how to be discreet about your more unsavory activities.

...and I've heard of a few cases where graduate schools look at profiles of applicants.

#10 09-25-2006, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekalum

Also, you're a fool if you think that your university staff and faculty don't check facebook sites already anyway. They won't tell you to take anything off, but they will be making judgments about your judgment based on what they see. Your sorority's doing you a favor, really, if you don't already know how to be discreet about your more unsavory activities.

I admit to doing this.

I became a GA the semester MySpace/Friendster started and I admit to checking/borderline stalking my students (mostly freshmen). When Facebook blew up I knew the class AND social schedules of many of my students. If someone didn't show up for a class, it was often possible that I knew why just because I saw it on their Facebook.

UGAalum94 · #11 09-25-2006, 06:40 PM

You have the power to limit who can see your profile. Make your profile so that you can't be seen by anyone who isn't your friend.

There are a wide variety of privacy settings; experiment until you get what you want.

Why should the world know all your stuff anyway?

KSUViolet06 · #12 09-25-2006, 06:46 PM

My school's Panhellenic was adamant that EVERY sorority woman's Facebook be private during recruitment.

After recruitment, our Panhellenic had a mandatory presentation that basically talked about making sure that girls were careful what they put up on those sites (for safety reasons).

My chapter isn't really big on 'policing' our Facebook/MySpace accounts. Our advisors always remind the newer girls that (like it or not) everything they put on those sites reflects on the sorority, and they should take that into consideration when putting up pictures and such.

PhrozenGod01 · #13 09-25-2006, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

Why should the world know all your stuff anyway?

Because I have over 500 friends and I am the king of facebook.

On Myspace half of my friends are bands and they need to see my mouse cursor that resembles a smoking bong, amidst a field of sparkly green writing over a lighter green background. The world needs to know my bedroom style and see pictures of all my favorite celebrities. Yeah!!!

Seriously, I knew some people who got caught a couple years ago with pictures of themselves taking shots in their dorm room. At first I thought it was an invasion of privacy, but then I realized that those people were idiots.

greekalum · #14 09-25-2006, 06:59 PM

It'd be an invasion of privacy if they had those pictures stored on their hard drive or in a drawer somewhere and someone went rummaging through their drawers or logged on to their personal computer to find them. Reacting to pictures someone chose to publish on the internet is not an invasion of privacy- you forfeit your privacy by publishing that.

CaliSA · #15 09-29-2006, 10:36 AM

My chapter's advisor recently emailed every sister with the specific items she was to remove from her myspace profile. Although I thought removing a picture because there were "solo" cups was a little silly, I think it's better in the long run. I do think we as sisters/brothers have to all monitor each other (in a nice way), not only for graduate school/job reasons but just as a matter of taste. I know my sisters can get really crazy and they take pictures of everything....those pics are definitely best left off the computer, especially since our greek community is small and once someone meets another greek they always look them up on myspace or facebook.