Strange question Facebook related

[Howaboutthisone]

I'm. It on Facebook as yet but thinking about joining. As teachers, do you use first name surname, or do you use a middle name or initial? I'm secondary if that makes any difference- I think it probably does. And the privacy setting s-what's best to have them set at in this profession?

I'm not on- not in it on!

I'm in a profession where it's prudent to be very private on social media also. Several of my colleagues use a pseudonym or just initial and middle name. There is a way to make it so that your profile isn't searchable on search engines. You'll want to do that so then any photos you post won't come up in searches.
I have my social media at the highest security. Nobody can search me, only visible to friends,can't see anything of my profile unless friend request is accepted.

Not really answering your question, but a really important tip - make sure your partner or family members have their Facebook set to private too (if you can). My friend is a teacher - his FB is set to completely private, he doesn't use his last name, and his profile picture isn't a picture of him. You'd think no one would find him. But after mentioning his wife's name once in class, some of his students looked her up, found her profile was public, and she'd recently posted holiday pictures of them both. They printed off a bunch of photos of him in his trunks on the beach, and brought them into school to pass around!

I use my real name, but have everything set to private. Tbh I don't put anything on there I wouldn't be prepared to show my class.
Depends what sort of thing you're posting really.

I would never use first name surname. I've seen first name middle name, people using mother's maiden names, people spelling names backwards, spelling names differently (eg Sophie to So Fee),

Good point Myneighboursnorlax. It doesn't matter how locked down your profile is if friends and family are not locked down.

Grrr, hit post too soon!

I've also seen use of initials and of other languages (in Ireland, so many put their names in Irish).

Certainly if I was in secondary I'd use a different name to my own. Don't want kids accessing my FB! Also check your privacy settings. There is a view profile option where you can check what can be seen on your page.

It's not about what I'm posting per se (no porn shoots or coke Fridays!), but my own life and my job are separate - and I want to keep them that way.

Changing your name won't help if your colleagues profiles show their friens list.

Only post what you would be happy for your head teacher and classes to see.

Thank you for the replies. So if I decide to set up an account the best plan is to use some part of my name and some initials. If my name was Normal Joe Bloggs then something like Normal J B? And then I should lock down all privacy settings- is that easy to do including the photos not being searchable mentioned upthread?
It's not that I'll be posting anything that I wouldn't want pupils to see, more that I'd prefer to keep those two areas separate as pp said.
Thank you!

I've got my photos set to just 'friends' so if a pupil went into one of my friends facebooks they wouldn't be able to see my photos. Photos I had put on I mean.

The problem is that other people might put photos of you on. You can have your settings so that people can't tag you in photos. You get a message and you have to give permission for them to tag you.

Also, if you tag someone in a photo you put on, then their settings that they have will apply to that photo. So if there is a photo of you and your friend Jim and you tag Jim and his photo setting are that everyone can see his photos, then everyone who looks at Jims page can look at the photo.

I think!

Thanks for the replies-really helpful. I wouldn't use a totally different name- just something like the joe bloggs I mentioned above. It's really good to know about the photos and photo tagging stuff too. Is that easy to sort when you set up your account?
Thanks again!

My name is not that unusual, so I expect I could be found without too much work, but as others have said, I don't post anything I wouldn't want seen. I shut down any conversations about my home and family life with any class younger than Y11. I share a bit more with 11s and sixth form, but obviously nothing really personal. I used to be really paranoid about privacy settings after a colleague had problems, but am more relaxed now. Kids moved away from Facebook to Twitter, and now only seem interested in Snapchat and Instagram.

If your name is Normal Joe Bloggs, known by friends as Norm, I guess you could call yourself Joey Bloggs... Don't count on not being searchable. I'm sure I'm quite searchable here even though my name is neither Alpha nor Station...

Work on the fact that yon WILL be found. Honestly, everyone cal be found on facebook, no matter what facebook say.

I have had bets on this with friends and won the bet every time.

Teacher here: I went to every length to not be discovered on Facebook, including using the first initial of my first name and my middle name rather than surname but the little blighters still found me. I finally gave up about 3 years ago and deleted my account.

Yy to your nearest and dearest checking their settings too.

Get Facebook to notify you when you're tagged and you can remove tags/stop those things appearing on your timeline too. Lock down your profile so only friends of friends can find you (or no one).

Also make sure you turn off the settings for your profile coming up in google searches and for people to find you from your email address or phone number. My builders Facebook profile comes up on mine as a suggestion cos I have his mobile number!

Also, watch out for profile and cover photos, they are public by default (this cam be changed)

Make a decision if you want to be friends with colleagues or not - as a PP said, you can lock down completely but if a colleague has their friends list open, once a child finds them, they find everyone. And despite being told on so many occasions, we still have staff members who will keep everything public.

I used to be friends with colleagues but struggled when someone I technically line managed was calling in sick and I could see what she'd been up to the night before. When I changed schools, I made the decision that I would not be friends with colleagues on there, and since then I've had no issues at all, as that combined with my slightly altered name, has kept me hidden.

I'm school support staff , so not a teacher but thought I'd wade in as I have a bit of experience re social media and work clashing.

A few years ago I posted something generic and inoffensive about the last day of term as a status on social media. A few colleagues then went on to make some comments on this status that got a tad out of hand. One of my other colleagues printed out a screenshot of this and gave it to the ht. I would've been subjected to severe disciplinary action if my school's social media policy was more rigid at the time. I had a lucky escape , apologised then immediately removed all colleagues from sm and had my account under a nickname. I never posted a single word about work again!

I have actually stopped using sm completely in most cases because of the mess something so innocent almost caused for me professionally!

Thank you for all of these tips/advice, they're really helpful.

And dont have a photo of you as your profile picture.

Before you join, look up colleagues (who you are not friends with) and have a good nose around what you are able to see. A local hwadteacher's Facebook page was used in CPD for a while showcasing what not to do...

I agree with PP re. being fb friends with colleagues. Don't.

I use my first and middle name. I keep my privacy settings high but facebook seem to do intermittent resets so I find this safest.

I use my real name, but have all my privacy settings locked down (to "friends" not "friends of friends" as I'm friends with people who are friends with my students). All anyone can see on my profile is my profile pic and cover photo, so a student might be able to find me but they wouldn't see anything scandalous!