Abstract
Social Media (SM) provide exciting instructional opportunities for educators. However, a simple Internet search reveals professional implications that have resulted from educators’ SM usage perceived as missteps. In this research, using an impression construction lens, we considered cases of educators’ SM missteps as perceived by stakeholders and as presented in the news media. From this analysis, a description of what is perceived as inappropriate teacher SM use is provided, explanations of the highlighted SM usage are considered, and a discussion of findings from an impression construction perspective is included. Results suggest impression construction in SM settings is a complex endeavor for educators that prompts varying opinions from stakeholder groups. Suggestions for professional SM use are included.
Highlights
Social media use for enhancing teaching and learning purposes (Kimmons, 2014; Naghdipour & Eldridge, 2016) and promoting professional identity (Veletsianos, 2012) continues to be explored
Using cases from news sources provided an interesting way to consider the phenomenon of questionable social media (SM) usage by educators, as news media serve as a means for individuals to make sense of world events (Entman, 1993) and offer a way for individuals to stay abreast on current topics (Brossoie, Roberto, & Barrow, 2012)
Even though the news media reported the case of the questionable SM usage, the educator received no formal disciplinary action
Summary
Social media use for enhancing teaching and learning purposes (Kimmons, 2014; Naghdipour & Eldridge, 2016) and promoting professional identity (Veletsianos, 2012) continues to be explored. The inherent openness of social media (Clark & Roberts, 2010) paired with the realities of the teaching profession (e.g., educators viewed as role models) sometimes leaves the social media impression created by educators at-risk for being scrutinized This analysis considers educators’ social media missteps as perceived by stakeholders and presented in the news media in order to understand how www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm. Fair or not, this societal expectation holds educators to a much different, much higher standard than other professions (Carter et al, 2008) This reality suggests that teachers may be motivated to impression manage as a result of personal goals and by goals set by societal standards. The specific realities of the education profession appear to create inherent motivators for professionals working in this field to effectively impression manage. Unlike some of the impression motivators inherent to the education profession, how educators construct a specific impression is less clear, especially in SM settings
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