Finding me in social me-dia: Teaching students to use social networking platforms legally and mindfully

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social media is a defining part of contemporary communication. College-aged students, as frequent users of these platforms, are often aware of their functionality but less knowledgeable about their additional impact beyond social networking. In sum, these platforms intersect with a vast legal landscape that can be difficult for even the most avid users to navigate. Thus, this course and its primary project are designed as a “Know Your Rights” primer, equipping students with the skills and knowledge necessary to use social media responsibly in both personal and professional contexts. Each student creates a primer that consist of three central chapters—(1) Social Media Self-Assessment, (2) In-Depth Platform Analysis, and (3) Legal Considerations—that train them to articulate, analyze, and apply their digital rights across the most commonly used social media platforms. Ultimately, students learn how to navigate an online world better that many believe they have already mastered and are empowered to think twice before they click once. Courses Media Studies, Digital Communication, Introduction to Mass Communication, Communication Ethics, Social Media. Objectives Through this course and its primary project, students will learn to: (1) explain their individual rights as they pertain specifically to social media and more broadly to the U.S. Constitution; (2) describe ways new and emerging communication technologies have reshaped, and continue to impact, issues related to law, justice, and social relations generally; (3) critique how social media, Internet television, and other communication technologies have affected their own understandings of privacy and law; (4) classify the differences among social media platforms’ evolutions, as well as their terms of use and data privacy policies; and (5) recognize the potential positive and negative ramifications of their personal online media presence.