A recent story by the BBC has highlighted the possible hazards of using social networking sites, particularly during work hours. The article, published on the 22 May, discussed the recent case where a teacher in the area of Argyll and Bute is understood to have posted up to 38 updates a day on the Twitter site. Many of the posts featured information about her classes and students and were posted during school hours.

Although this can be considered a unique case and teachers shouldn't feel they are unable to use social networking sites such as Twitter, this story does illustrate the need to take care with the information that we allow people to see, and when we choose to post it.

When using Twitter this is really easy to do, and below are a few tips on ways to control who sees what you're updating on Twitter:

• Check who is following you – this will enable you to block anyone you do not wish to see your “tweets” (updates).
• Set your privacy settings – again this will limit who sees your updates and also enable you to change your user name so it is not your actual name.
• Don't talk about work in your “One Line Bio” - Twitter offers a one-line biography of up to 160 characters with which to describe yourself. Consider mentioning your hobbies or other interests instead of your job title or where you work.
• Your profile picture: If you don't want colleagues or students to follow you on Twitter, you might not want to put up your own photo. Consider using a graphic or some sort of icon instead.

To read our full factsheet on Twitter please click here.

Facebook also continues to be a very popular social networking site among both pupils and teachers and again there are steps that you can take to ensure people are only able to view certain information. This can involve who you invite to be a friend or how to create a new group. If you would like to know how to control your privacy settings please read our factsheet, Facebook – Privacy settings. You can also do the same on your MySpace page by viewing our factsheet MySpace privacy settings.

Teacher Support Network would also advise that you do not visit any social networking sites during work hours, particularly if you are posting new information that is updated on the homepage of the sites. Most schools will actually block these sites so you will probably find that you are unable to access them anyway.

The popularity of social networking sites can also make it possible for people to make comments and post images that are available to a much wider audience than they intended. This can often take the form of cyberbullying, which can cause just as much pain and anxiety than traditional forms of bullying.

A recent Teacher Support Network survey, carried out in partnership with the ATL, showed that 15 per cent of teachers have experienced cyberbullying and 63 per cent of those who had suffered cyberbullying personally said they had received unwelcome emails. Over a quarter had had offensive messages posted about them on social networking sites such as Facebook and 28 per cent described being sent unwelcome text messages. Although a significant proportion – 44 per cent – had been bullied by pupils, a startling 28 per cent said that a manager or colleague was behind the abuse.

Unfortunately it can be much more difficult for schools and teachers to deal with this as they have no control over external websites. However, there are a range of actions that organisations and staff can take to reduce the chances of cyberbullying occurring and deal with it if it does happen. If you would like to view our advice on dealing with cyberbullying, please view our factsheet.

For further help and advice on using social networking sites and dealing with cyberbullying, you can call our Support Line in England at 08000 562 561, and in Scotland call 0800 564 2270. In Wales call 08000 855 088.