I was going to start this blog post on social media in student affairs with a full disclaimer about my admittedly self-perceived lack of technical know-how. After some thinking, reflecting and tweeting, however, I’ve begun to see that it is this seemingly innocent humour and language that may be one of the biggest stumbling blocks to integrating social media into our student affairs programming. Beyond building our technology IQ, perhaps it is time we also invest in nurturing our social media EQ-–identifying and confronting the underlying assumptions surrounding incorporating these tools into our professional practice. One of the many valuable lessons I’ve learnt in my time in student affairs has been the true power of words and language. Slang and other terms used in passing can distance us just as quickly as they can bring us together. In the case of social media, the way we talk about our tweets, Facebook posts or blogging can often do the same.

While facilitating presentations and engaging in discussions around social media at this year’s NASPA conference, one theme that came up rather frequently was the use of social media as a way to build community on campus, across institutions and throughout the student affairs profession. This desire for collaboration and unity is in stark contrast to the effect of several off-hand comments I heard during these discussions. For example, some colleagues I speak to about social media will laugh off their lack of knowledge around Twitter, claiming they’re ‘too old’ or ‘not hip enough’ to engage with this ‘new fangled technology’.

If we want to continue building and sustaining what we claim to be valuable relationships amongst our colleagues and peers, we need to start talking about social media as a piece of the larger community building puzzle. Rather than viewing social media as a separate space for engagement, I choose to view it as an extension of my local student affairs community. This blog post and my Twitter account, for example, do not replace the connections I made face to face at NASPA or even in my office, but they instead help me to sustain those relationships once the conference is over or after I’ve left the office for the day. Social media, to me, is another way to interact and share–it does not take the place of in-person interactions but rather encourages conversations to continue beyond the boundaries of geographic location and time zones.

I am beginning to see the need for a shift in the way we talk about social media from a tool that discourages interaction to a new way of encouraging and fostering connections. I will admit to sometimes being the one who complains about ‘those people who are always on their phones’, especially as an extrovert who craves and enjoys social interaction. However, even those complaints done in jest only serve to further the apparent divide between those who embrace social media and those who seem more reluctant to sign up. As with anything new, the language used to describe and discuss it can often further the fear and hesitation that comes with adopting a new way of doing things. In the case of social media, we often overhear complaints about students and colleagues so wrapped up in their phones that they don’t look up long enough to engage with those around them. These complaints, often voiced as jokes about the ‘digital divide’ between the generations, seem to only push us apart rather than bring us together. If we as student affairs professionals claim community building and engagement as important values, we must begin to reframe how we discuss social media as a tool for fulfilling these goals and examine how the language we use may limit, rather than encourage, connections. The way in which we talk about social media can have a far greater impact on building our technological competency than any online tutorial.

As Thomas Earnest Hulme so eloquently describes:

“Language is by its very nature a communal thing; that is, it expresses never the exact thing but a compromise – that which is common to you, me, and everybody. “

Lisa Endersby is a Student Experience Advisor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).