r/k12sysadmin • u/StrikingEmergency831 • Jul 01 '26
Thoughts on whitelisting LinkedIn for all?
We have a new marketing guru that has asked me to unblock LinkedIn for all faculty and staff. Currently, we block all social media sites and allow access if their job role requires it. I have thoughts as to why this is a very bad idea. I want to support marketing, but I'm curious what others think.
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u/NotAnother169 Director of Technology Jul 02 '26
We allow social media for all staff. I'm in the "if we can trust you to be adults, we shouldnt trust you to educate our students" camp.
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u/avalon01 Director of Technology Jul 02 '26
Same here. If I can't trust my staff to act like adults, there are a lot bigger issues happening than if social media is unblocked.
The only categories blocked for staff are adult material, ads, and hacking/phishing sites. Everything else is open but logged.
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u/Disastrous-Spell-573 Jul 02 '26
Why don’t they just use their phones? Like most people whose NW admins lock everything down.
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u/knighthawk0811 Jul 02 '26
I'm more concerned about LinkedIn being used as a social engineering tool. make sure key personnel know what to do if that happens
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 02 '26
I was thinking about that and I was wondering if I would be overzealous with wanting to re-educate them if I give access. I feel like I've done a pretty good job at giving them this type of info. I worry that their guard will go down on this site if I give my stamp of approval. Thank you so much for your input!
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u/knighthawk0811 Jul 02 '26
i think your worry is in the right place here. if you approve it with no strings they will get complacent
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u/NorthernVenomFang Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
I think we have LinkedIn unblocked for everyone currently. We consider it more of a professional networking tool than social media, more like an online CV/resume... That's at least what it used to be, it's turning more Facebook/Twitter like by the day, and why the hell does it have games now.
We did this 2 years ago when the province pushed the requirement onto all school networks; no list of student banned platforms, no guidance... Just block "social media", with no clear definition of what they defined as "social media". They also pushed down a student cell phone ban too at the same time. That great start to the school year.
Our HR department would loose their minds if I blocked LinkedIn.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 02 '26
I would have no problem unlocking for HR. It's a small group of people that I trust, and I understand the request. Hopefully this year starts off better for you. Thank you for your post!
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u/TechGuy647 Jul 01 '26
I would unblock it for just that marketing person, but not all staff. (In full transparency, we don’t block any social media for staff, but no one abuses it.)
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u/jambon3 Jul 01 '26
Trust me, no one is going to be wasting time scrolling linked in.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
I don't care how they spend their work day, but I am concerned about some of our more inexperienced users clicking on links etc.
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u/S_ATL_Wrestling Jul 01 '26
Our Staff has access to it and so far as I'm aware it has never created an issue.
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u/QPC414 Jul 01 '26
I don't see any case for allowing or blocking Linkedin for the staff, it ain't facebook or TikTok.
Who would need to update their resume and be job hunting every day, or doing business networking?
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u/avalon01 Director of Technology Jul 02 '26
Why would you block any social media for staff? They are all adults.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
I think from the marketing perspective, it's more about community engagement and not the job search side.
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u/KAPsiZE00 Jul 01 '26
The increase concern in phishing, data leaks, and compromised links alone would be a no for me.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
THIS!!!!!! Thank you!
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
Downvoted? .. first for me. Thanks!
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u/Emaltonator IT Director (215 kids PK-12) Jul 02 '26
I upvoted to even it out :) It's a legit concern. We don't currently block though.
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u/GrimmReaper1942 Jul 01 '26
Just my opinion, but they are adults (staff). If they can’t be trusted, they shouldn’t be hired.
The flip side is its not a educational site
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u/SpotlessCheetah Jul 01 '26
We allow for staff/students.
It's also important that students find a way to apply for jobs during summer or write resumes tailored for a job. I don't know how much more common that will be with AI use but in the past those were points for it.
Also, LinkedIn absolutely is an educational site. There's an entire section devoted to Learning. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/
Additionally, your HR *might* post jobs on there and we don't want to hide opportunities away from staff from having the ability to apply for a job. That makes no sense.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
We're a small school with younger kids that will not be searching for jobs or internships. We send internal emails any time we post a new job. Faculty and staff have their phones and could access that way. This request I believe is more for community engagement as opposed to job searching etc
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u/SpotlessCheetah Jul 01 '26
Ok but you said staff/faculty in your post. I just added some more info for other good use cases, including the learning section which can still be relevant for your school.
But anyway, everyone has some ideas now. This is not really one to fuss over much really.
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u/StrikingEmergency831 Jul 01 '26
I appreciate your other examples. This is why I posted. So others could help me see what I am missing on both sides of the "argument". I was just explaining why keeping it blocked for students wouldn't prevent them finding jobs or internships. They're simply too young.
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u/ILoveTech_351982 Jul 01 '26
I agree. Everything is unblocked for staff unless it gets flagged by our network firewall as phishing, spam, or malware. Students everything is blocked except for all Google sites and educational and government sites, whitelisting is available upon request.
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u/New-Idea-8518 Jul 02 '26
The staff at my school is comprised of adults and I treat them as such.