First off, this policy is not here to make myself out to be something I am not.

Rather, it is to explain what I am and why. Let’s begin!

I use a few different types of social media, but I actively use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This policy covers how I address friend requests or connections on those platforms.

Facebook is personal stuff. You probably will not become a Facebook friend while you are still enrolled at Towson University, and certainly not while you are a student in the EDTL program. And frankly, my life is really boring. There is no big benefit to being a Facebook friend. Unless you like pictures of food, vacations, or my kids and extended family. No, really. Even I am starting to nod off just thinking about it.

Twitter is more professional and yet informal. My username for professional stuff is @drjkenton. There is nothing I can do to stop you following me. I generally will follow back, because there is no reason not to. There is no big agenda that I maintain there. I respond to some of the issues I care about, and shoot the breeze there with graduates of our program that have the misfortune of having me as a follower. I keep my DM open. I figure I am smart enough to deal with that, and to quote Jim Croce in “Next Time This Time”: I can hang up as fast as you can call My professional Twitter gets a lot more random folks DM’ing me than my personal one, even though my personal one generates a LOT more tweets. Who knows why?

LinkedIn is purely professional. I will accept links from folks who have LinkedIn accounts. I write a good reference letter, and LinkedIn messages is a place where folks generally request them, if they have forgotten my towson.edu email address.

Email is not social media, but it is part of my public identity. If you want to send one: jkenton@towson.edu I am pretty good at dealing with email. As of the year 2021, I have more than 25 years of experience with email as a work communication device.

To summarize:

  1. You probably won’t become a Facebook friend until after you graduate from the program, if then.
  2. I will follow back on Twitter.
  3. I will connect with you on LinkedIn, for professional reasons.
  4. My email address is public information.

Comments?