to tell you to warn your teenagers about Twitter?

[MyMannateeBringsTheBoystotheYa]

Seriously.

I have a young person helping me as part of a volunteer role for his degree. He is 19. I knew this person's name and surname before they came to work for me. Like literally his name is the first to come up on google and it's to an old and new twitter account.

The old one was full of teen angst. No worries there, I mean thank fuck twitter wasn't around when I was a teenager for all my ramblings to still be available for the world to see.

The current one.. was a bit sweary and a bit cringey and a bit whiny about partners and who really loves who forever and ever and ever and ever and how XXX will always come back etc.

I was a bit bored yesterday and looked him up yesterday (to see if he mentioned working at mine). And holy god, there appears to be some sort of Twitter shit storm of epic proportions kicking off. With swearing at friends, immature comments back and forth, accusations of faked pregnancies.... the back and forth was between like 5 people too, not just the main 2 who were upset with each other. Him and his friends are actually including other people in their "tweets" so they can see the arguing. I mean what the fuck?

I know I'm clearly out of touch, but if I were an employer and saw this I would not touch this person with a barge pole.

He is in the process of looking for a job and seems perfectly polite and contentious while working for me (so far).. but this won't look good to prospective employers.

Now I am awaiting the inevitable shrieking about "snooping" but the truth is Twitter is a publishing site. It is their for making your voice heard and if you aren't happy with it being read you don't publish it). Employers do check social media and haven't got to worry about the ethical dilemma so the fact remains people need to keep their online lives from mixing with their off line lives especially as most of their employers won't be other teenagers.

I've always told mine not to put up anything they wouldn't want their teacher to read. They're not quite at job/course-hunting stage yet, so it's the best equivalent I could think of. However, I've given my oldest (15) some useful examples from this thread!

I teach secondary.

Our Head of ICT recently delivered an assembly which prominently featured Facebook photos of the great'n'good of year 11.

Riding donkeys on the beach, being cuddled by embarrassing Aunties, wearing Justin Bieber t-shirts when they've recently re-branded themselves as Bring Me The Horizon fans...oh they were furious.

Point made.

I don't use my full name on Twitter or have a photo you could recognise. FB is in strict privacy settings. I don't know why some teenagers don't manage the same.

Delphinium, I think they think of twitter and the like as a sort of journal...and that for some reason their parents/teachers or employers would neeeever think to check on them there

I may mention at the end of his placement overtired but to be honest.. I think it will make it very awkward between us because besides looking judgy it will also mean he knows that I know all his private stuff. Unforutnately he is supposed to start looking for work before the end of placement with me. .

I can see that Twitter is more difficult than FB. I would mention it at the end, he may not like it but he obviously needs the advice.

Any future employer would be bored witless by my social networking - Facebook is full of cat pics and Dr Who, and Twitter is only used very occasionally

Yanbu. I despair. Why don't people understand about the internet and what people can see and read about you?? Especially not the current generation who are supposed to be the experts!

Tell him that any prospective employer will look him up online. Its only fair to warn him although why he could not have worked this out for himself I have NO idea.

Raven, that sounds very effective!

DD had a social media workshop day when she was in Y7 IIRC which was very effective. Not sure if they ran it again for DS.

Are you helping him with his job applications? Could you talk to him from "the other side of the table" so to speak and let him know what you would do as a prospective employer. Actually look him up on google etc with him beside you and ask him if that's what he wants as his first impression. It doesn't look so much like you have been stalking then.

name7 no, i'm not in charge of helping with his applications. But that's a good way of going about it. I won't say anything before the end of his term (which I feel bad about as I know he should start looking soon). BUt tbh, I can't face days of my week spent with an arsey embarrassed teenager. I hope it doesn't spoil our working relationship as would have actually occasionally used him after the end of the term.

it is a surprise mintyy isn't it? I remember growing up with the internet (but not FB and Twitter) and the rule was... don't give out your name/school/location/private info... no photos. It was drilled in by the media and schools.

I think this generation are growing up so "out there" in terms of personal info they just don't think about privacy anymore. Even though I am sure they google each other maybe they think us "oldies" oh my god, i'm only 31 can't use that new fangled computer to check up on them?

It is frightening really, they have no clue. They know how to use technology but do not realise they are abusing themselves the way they use it. I have already heard of potential bosses looking up potential employees on facebook, etc. Yes, everyone is allowed to let their hair down AFTER work, but if said postee is a loudmouth, swearing, boasting of beating people up (as an example) you really would not want said tosspot in your employ would you??!!

YANBU
Twitter is not a private place.
It is like being on reality TV like big brother so you should not post anything that you would not be happy for the whole world to see - for ever!
Facebook the same.

YANBU, my uni lecturer follows me on Twitter. It's never made me careful about what I say, because I mainly use Twitter just for posts related to my blog, but others might not be so careful.

DS's first follower on Twitter was me
It's the only online thing he has apart from his Xbox profile and frankly any future employer would be bored to the point of tears reading his tweets and retweets.
Anybody seen the local Banter page on FB? An example would be Rochdale Banter, it's bloody awful. These kids don't realise that it's out there for life.

Young and naive people should be kept right off there. My ex partner has 2 convictions for harassing women and one for fraud. He had about 3 followers on Twitter. Recently he changed his profile pic to a famous actor's, changed the account name to one suggesting he is running a UK offshoot of their firm, Tweets outrageous lies about how wealthy he is, etc.
And his followers have risen to over 600 in a few days. He is 'casting' for young women for films he can't possibly make, telling people he can sell their films in the US and the number of young wannabe actors/film-makers etc he has taken in, in a few days, is astounding. Also naive middle aged women who look like they have only just got online, asking him for a job...

His only previous Twitter friends were spambots and the loonies from his church Alpha course. Now he is scamming left, right and centre, and I am afraid some young vulnerable (or older, naive) people are going to put themselves in dangerous situations as he is obviously using it as a big casting couch - he's a bald, middle aged, unemployed actor with no backing, on the dole but claiming to run a company, and has no useful contacts, and could not possibly be able to do any of the things he is trying to lure people with.

His church friends must have seen this but have done nothing to stop the fantasy. What gets me is he has no website for the fake company, obviously a quick check on the Companies House website would take seconds to perform - but the people he is suckering are so naive they can't figure out he isn't for real. I hope my kids are more savvy online than the 600 desperate suckers he's reeled in, in a few days.

I Tweet under my professional name - and only FB my old university friends as we're scattered far and wide, or people I have known for years. To me it would be common sense if someone is illiterate and keeps Tweeting crap about Jesus then, in the next Tweet is trying to lure some young girls to send him show reels, he is probably a pervert. It is scary how many people - esp those desperate to break into show business - have been taken in.