Getting Students and Staff on Board.  We launched the plan mid-cycle
and did a short survey examining how many of our youth had MySpace
pages. 88% admitted that they did, but a number of them were hesitant to
turn over their MySpace page information to us because of the content on
the page.  If you go to our MySpace page you will notice by looking at
the comments that not all the profile pictures are "appropriate." Among
staff we had to agree to overlook this in order to meet the goals of the
project. To balance this, we talk extensively in our classes about how
employers are increasingly looking at MySpace pages prior to hiring.  

Staff gathered together and developed a list of protocols for how we
were going to implement MySpace internally.  These protocols addressed a
number of challenges that we saw from the starting gate, including:
student privacy, professionalism, and defining appropriate
communication.  Here is what we decided:

1.	Staff will not use what is on trainee's MySpace pages against
them.  For example, if a student references drug or alcohol abuse on
their page, staff will not bring it up with the students. Remember,
MySpace is an "alternate reality" for many kids, and much of what is
said online may not be true. We need to make MySpace a safe space for
our trainees so that we can use this resource effectively to our
advantage.

 

2.	For trainees who are uncomfortable with the idea of giving staff
access to their MySpace page, encourage them to set up a separate
"professional" MySpace page.

 

3.	Despite OBT's involvement with MySpace, trainees will still not
be allowed to access their MySpace page during class time unless a staff
member specifically directs them to the page as part of an activity.
Trainees who wish to look at their MySpace page will be able to use
OBT's computers at the end of the day.

 

4.	Staff will be encouraged but not required to create a MySpace to
use with trainees. Staff wishing to be "friends" with OBT's MySpace page
must set up an OBT-specific MySpace page. You should not use your
personal MySpace page under any circumstances; even if your page is
professional, your friends' pages might not be. When creating your OBT
MySpace page, you must use your work email address and your headline
should be "Job Title" at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow. The only
allowable friends are: trainees, alumni, or staff. All other friend
requests should be denied.

 

4.	Staff may use their OBT-specific MySpace page or the "OBT"
MySpace page to contact students.  All communications must be
professional.

 

5.	All trainees will be encouraged to switch their MySpace page to
a "friends-only" view (versus public).  This will help protect them in
the event that an employer looks them up on MySpace.

 

6.	All friend requests to the OBT MySpace page are vetted to ensure
that there is a genuine relationship with OBT.  This is done by sending
a message to friend prospects to confirm why they are interested in OBT.

 

To get staff not involved in the development process on board, we
developed and presented a PowerPoint presentation at our all-staff
meeting.  We explained that traditionally, OBT had two methods to get in
touch with our students: the phone and letters.  Now, we were expanding
to include email, MySpace and Instant Messenger.  We didn't mandate that
all staff use all the techniques.  Rather, our goal was to educate
staff, get some key staff on board, and then publicize among staff the
success stories.  We also designated three "MySpace Experts" to help get
staff uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the technologies set up and
adjusted.  Slowly, more and more staff have gotten on board -
particularly among our job developers and retention staff - as they
realize that these technologies make their lives much easier.  Staff
report using these technologies to inform our students about upcoming
interviews or contact them to see how they are doing on the job in
addition to our more "macro" goals listed above.

 

Outside of issues of privacy (addressed in the staff protocols) our
students were already essentially "bought-in" to the idea of MySpace.
We had students create and design OBT's MySpace page so that we could
more effectively "meet students where they are at." This helped to
improve student engagement and interest in the project.

 

Tomorrow, I will discuss how we used LinkedIn to meet a different set of
goals. I will also examine other social networking sites out there that
may be "hot" among the students you serve.

 

 

______________________________

Emily May

Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow

783 4th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11232

718-369-0303

emay at obtjobs.org

www.obtjobs.org

 

<mailto:emay at obtjobs.org> 

  

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/attachments/20080211/cae1a624/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9200 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/attachments/20080211/cae1a624/attachment.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/png
Size: 330291 bytes
Desc: image001.png
Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/attachments/20080211/cae1a624/attachment.png