Relational Development, Self-Disclosure, and Invasion of Privacy: College Students and Teachers as Facebook Friends

<p>This research examined how college students feel about their professors requesting them to be a Facebook friend. Recognizing the ways in which professors and students communicating through social networking could produce additional educational opportunities for collaboration and instruction, while also causing tension or awkwardness as the process develops. Semistructured interviews were utilized by the researcher to obtain information from the selected participants, and the data were analyzed by comparative methods. Through this study, it was revealed that students are split on the appropriateness of professors as Facebook friends. They prefer little to no self-disclosure from their professors. They do not see Facebook friendships with professors as an invasion of their privacy. Although most students believe Facebook can be an effective educational tool, there are mixed feelings whether using Facebook as an educational tool strips the site of its originally intended social purpose, most students will accept their professor’s Facebook request but only because they feel that they have to. This study extends the limited initial research on Facebook usage in education, namely with students.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Communication

Year

2014

Author dc:creator

• Dearbone, Ryan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Blair Thompson (Director), Dr. Angela M. Jerome, Dr. Kumi Ishii

• friending
• social network communication
• teacher-student relationships
• social media
• Communication
• Communication Technology and New Media
• Interpersonal and Small Group Communication

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2349