Facebook is a great tool for getting and keeping in touch with people, but convenience comes with concerns about privacy and appropriateness. Maintaining a professional distance is one major issue that comes along with using Facebook. For professors, this comes down to a single question: should I friend my students?
If you do choose to friend your students, you get the benefits of being able to contact them more easily (most students probably check Facebook more often than their school email, honestly), make a group for your class, and share events. Of course, that means they can see your profile and what you do on the weekends, and you can see theirs. Chances are, neither of you really want to know.
Many professors follow a rule of thumb that they will not friend any current students, but may friend a student they have become close to once s/he is no longer in their class. This will keep you from any potential conflicts of interest. Just remind students to be cautious about posting things they don’t want you to see, and that you’ll do the same.
Another option is to have two Facebook accounts, one for your personal life and one for your professional life – you can friend students with your professional account while they are students if you care to use Facebook to share and schedule, and your personal account if you become personal friends.
By ITA, Hillary Shipps