It’s not very often that you’ll receive a message from someone you barely know that says “Bunnyman….LOL Bunnyman…..LOL” and yet that’s exactly what happened to me recently.

I’ve mentioned before here that I work in a school.  I also participate in a lot of social media communities from Facebook and Myspace, through Twitter, FriendFeed and Seesmic all the way through to accounts on lesser used services like Identi.ca and Plurk.  Now, when you combine a school full of inquisitive teenagers with a member of staff who uses social media you’re into a game of cat-and-mouse that I’d rather avoid.

A year ago none of the students at my school were talking about Facebook, it was all Bebo and Myspace for them.  While I’d got used to my Myspace profile getting friend requests from students I wasn’t particularly bothered.  As it’s used to promote my music, I’m happy for anyone and everyone (except the BNP and Floridian death metal bands) to become my friend there.  A year ago Facebook was still a relatively safe place to relax and not have to worry about the school’s students coming to have a nosey at my profile.

Being a relatively open kind of person who doesn’t mind sharing a lot of my life (it is The Naked 21st Century after all) I used to keep my whole Facebook profile visible using the default ‘Friends and your networks’ option.  Recently I’ve set it to be more private, thanks in the main to the school’s students jumping on the Facebook bandwaggon.  About once a week I’ll get a message or friend request from one student or another, all of which are ignored.

Now, it’s not that I have anything to hide but imagine giving some kid a telling off and then hearing them replying with “Are you just angry because you’re tired after a late night at that gig last night?”.  That’s never happened but it’s exactly the kind of situation I’d like to avoid.

The thing is, while I’m relatively careful to keep my personal life away from my work life, I’ve seen many people who aren’t.  Some school staff (not necessarily those at my school, I hasten to add) are perfectly happy to have the children they work with ‘befriend’ them online.  The dangers of the online world to a teacher’s reputation can be massively damaging.  Just look at the case of the teacher in Stockport whose ‘actress’ past came back to haunt her (and her professional reputation) thanks to Youtube.

Social Media tools can be incredibly useful in schools.  They can be used to help teach students safety online and as a way of showing students how many opportunities an online presence can give them.  I’m sure those in education who are keen on ICT innovation in schools could come up with loads of great ideas for using Social Media to aid the teaching process.  John Sutton at Creative ICT is busily promoting blogging to Primary School children while Tom Barrett has used Twitter to crowdsource a plan for an assembly.

So, Social Media can be a friend as well as a foe in education.  Just be sure that that any skeletons you have are hidden in a suitable closet.  By the way, that “Bunnyman” thing?  A silly nickname from a group of girls who think I run like a rabbit – and on that note I think I’ll disappear back down my hole!