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Guest Author: Tracie Davis, Founder of TH Davis, LLC // MDS Musings Blog


The Positive Side of Social Media

Social media’s usefulness has long been debated. But I promise you, there is a positive side to social media, particularly for parents.

When it comes to keeping up with the latest information concerning your child’s schooling, Facebook or Instagram may not be at the top of your list of go-to sources. But they should be. If you follow your school’s Facebook page or Instagram account, you’ll have the ability to see the most current information (like COVID-19 protocols, scores from games, and weather-related updates).

For many, social media platforms are the fastest way to get the most current information. Instead of calling a store to see if they’re open, we look on their Facebook page to see if they’ve made a post about adjusted hours. Businesses (and schools!) are much more likely to post on their social accounts with last minute changes than they are to update other forms of communication (like answering machine messages or Google listings). With 74% of Facebook users visiting the site at least once per day and 63% of Instagram users doing the same, a school can make a single post and instantly update thousands of followers.1

Not to mention, social media provides an excellent way for your students to stay in touch with their classmates, which is vitally important when they haven’t been able to see them in person. And the same is true for parents. Social media is a great tool to stay connected with educators and fellow parents.

How to Follow Along

Social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. According to Hootsuite, 49% of the world’s population is on social media.2 Additionally, we spend an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes per day on our phones, half of which is spent in communication and social apps like Facebook and Instagram.3 So why not make these platforms useful for us?

If you’re not sure how, let’s go through a few tips for how to easily get notified when your child’s school makes a post.

For Instagram, follow these five simple steps:

  1. Open the Instagram app.
  2. Go to the Mount de Sales account (@mtdesales_macon), and make sure you’re following the account!
  3. Click on a post.
  4. Tap the three dots in the top right corner of the post.
  5. Select “turn on post notifications.”

Here’s how you can get notifications for Mount de Sales’ posts on Facebook:

  1. Make sure you’re following the page (https://www.facebook.com/MDSMaconGA/).
  2. Select the dropdown arrow next to “Following.”
  3. Choose the “See First” option under “In Your News Feed” to have Mount de Sales’ post show at the top of your newsfeed.
  4. Select the pencil icon next to “Notifications” and choose the “Standard” option to receive all notifications for the page.

Setup your account, log in, make sure you’re following your child’s school, and enjoy not having to check multiple channels for a single piece of information. (Better yet, rest in the knowledge that you no longer have to rely on your teenager to relay important updates!) Because as parents, isn’t it nice to have at least one thing simplified?

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Mount de Sales Academy is a private Catholic school located in Macon, GA, and serves students in Bibb, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and other surrounding counties. MDS is sponsored and inspired by the Sisters of Mercy. Since 1876, MDS has served a diverse college-preparatory community of learners—students and teachers alike—who are poised to discover, challenged to innovate, and motivated to serve.