Conquering the Fear of Authenticity

I will never forget the time I hired a team of social media experts to provide professional development for my fellow faculty members at a small college. As they deftly covered how to best use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to connect with students, they suggested that it was important for faculty members to share information about all areas of their lives: families, hobbies, pets, musical interests, triumphs, frustrations, and more. To do less was to risk being perceived as inauthentic, a sure turnoff for our then-Millennial students.