1. Social Media for School Counselors
NACAC Essentials of Professional Development – Detroit
October 6, 2016
Holly M. Markiecki-Bennetts
Director, College Counseling – U of D Jesuit High School and Academy

2. Goals and Outcomes for Today
Learn effective ways to communicate via social media
Develop a social media plan
Explore ethical concerns regarding social media
Explore a variety of social media tools to be used in a school counseling office

4. Why Use Social Media?
is not always an effective means of communication
Quick and easy way to share information
Easily accessible – even on a mobile device
Meet students where they are
Opportunity for teachable moments

5. Dangers of Social Media
Social media and technology change rapidly so there is a constant need to stay up to date
Reponses to posts can be inappropriate
Blurring the boundary between student/counselor
Liability (consult ethical guidelines)
Access by those not authorized to post
Posting pictures without parental permission

6. ASCA Ethical Guidelines
The American School Counselor Association provides guidance for practice –
Dual Relationships
Confidentiality
Technology and records

7. Starting out When starting a social media plan
See what’s out there that you can adapt other sites/pages for your own use
Realize that even utilizing your sites well, there are still students who “won’t see it”
Make sure your links work
Start small
Social media should reduce stress, not create it

8. Sites to Consider
Remind.com
Facebook Pages
Twitter

9. Remind.com Text messaging program
Students and parents can use instead if they do not have unlimited texting
Set message to arrive at a later date/time
Cannot respond directly to the text
Easy to set-up
No real social media footprint

10. This is what your screen will look like!!!

12. Facebook Pages Pages are the equivalent of an online bulletin board:
Use to share information from other sources, i.e. NACAC, Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), ACT, The College Board , etc.

13. Facebook tips
Create a professional account and make sure you are posting as your office
Type “Facebook for Educators” into any search engine and you will see many articles for tips
Search Facebook for School Counseling Pages
Pay attention to posts/comments under department posts

15. Twitter Easy way to share “retweet” other sources
Better Make Room, MCAN, NACAC, College Admission Offices, Labor Statistics, Job Fairs, etc
Teens don’t always “follow” the account because you won’t follow them back
Helps connect your school to outside resources
More cumbersome to toggle between personal and professional account

17. Considerations What do you need? What are your limits?
Do you have time?
Set boundaries
What site(s) make the most sense?
For your students
For you
For your stakeholders

18. Advanced use Ability to link multiple accounts (Facebook, twitter)
Embed in your website
The Hashtag # - this is how topics trend - try searching #NACAC2016 or #MACACinOhio on your social media sites
sign tags a page/person/account
Use when you want to link to another source
At the NACAC Essentials Conference in

19. Scopes 4 School Counselors

20. Ethical Considerations
Consult your district policies regarding social media.
Look at your on-line presence – you don’t want to over share with students!
Don’t use your personal account for your counseling media – create new accounts f for professional use
Social media is another form of communication. Use the ASCA and ACA Ethical Standards to guide your use of Social Media.

21. Questions Holly M. Markiecki-Bennetts
U of D Jesuit High School and Academy