• What challenges/opportunities you may be faced with when marrying the personal vs the professional presence on social media?

I feel that the challenges I will face as a teacher, and a keen user of social media, on sites such as Facebook and Twitter will be very varied. I feel that I will have to be careful in not only what I post, but in what others tag me in. What I share about my social and personal life will have to be kept closer to myself. I will make my accounts as private as possible in order for my social life to be shared with only those I have as friends so I can keep my personal and professional life separate.

However, the use of social media in the marrying of personal vs professional practice does not have to be filled with so much negativity the media often make out to be. The use of twitter is a wonderful way to connect with all things education globally. But, it is a very successful way for people to keep up with notices in a primary school. For example, I am from a town called Arbroath and two of the primary schools, Hayshead and Inverbrothock, have Twitter accounts. These accounts allow parents and those interested in the goings-on of the school to be kept updated as often as possible. I feel this highlights the positive aspects of social media within education. Therefore, it shows that it is possible to have a personal twitter account, on private settings, but a professional one too.

• How are the challenges/opportunities afforded by social media framed? How will you frame things – positive or deficit viewpoint?

The media will highlight the negative aspects of social media a lot more than they will highlight the benefits. I want to frame social media in a positive viewpoint as I know how beneficial it is, not only in education, but in a way of gaining information quickly.

Therefore, I feel that social media plays a huge part in personal and professional life. As professionals, we must be careful in what we post, but this does not mean that we have to delete these accounts all together. There are many ways in which we can make them private. Social media is so helpful in professional aspects, so we should use this opportunity and put it to good use.