Has anybody pretended to be you?

Recently, I discovered that a student thought it would be funny to create a Facebook page, using my name; he pretended to be me.  He doesn’t think it’s so funny anymore.  But anybody can impersonate you online, so I thought it would be useful to tell how to identify if this has happened to you. 

Every couple of months, Google yourself.  Go to Google and in the Search field, enter the name you normally use, and put it in quotes, like this:     ”Fran Lo”    This way Google searches on your name, not on just your first name and just your last name; you’ll you have fewer entries to look at.  You might also want to do a search like:  facebook “my name”    or    myspace  “my name”     You can do this in just a few minutes.

You will be amazed at how many people around the world  have your exact name.  And you may discover something a student has posted about you without your consent.  Because if kids can do stupid things, kids will do stupid things.

More ways to communicate

Still more ways of communicating with prospective and current students and parents

                Because so many of our prospective students use Facebook, St. Bernard has a Facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Uncasville-CT/Saint-Bernard-School/60005107447.

A Facebook page is a great place for photos and videos that help prospective – and current – students and parents learn more about our school.    People who wouldn’t search out our school website might be more likely to look us up on Facebook.

If you have such materials that could be added, please forward these to Molly Murkett at mmurkett@saint-bernard.com.  You don’t need a Facebook account to do this.

(By the way, you’ll need to look at the school’s Facebook page at home, as Facebook is blocked at school.) 

Since our students are so often on Facebook, if you are a faculty advisor for a club, activity, or event, you might want to consider using Facebook to promote participation.  According to Molly, “As of 4/26/09 there are 160 fans of the Saint Bernard School page. Fans receive updates and messages that are an additional reminder for upcoming events and activities.”

Even if Facebook is outside your comfort zone, if you email the materials to Molly, she can add your information to the St. Bernard page.  Molly is available at x131.

There is also a Saints blog you can follow or contribute to (again at home) at http://sbsambassadors.blogspot.com/   Again, contact Molly for more information.