Established higher education professionals and prospective professionals need to understand that there are standards of accountability that must be defined, studied, understood, and implemented to avoid the many problems that can arise because of improper social media usage. Organization leaders must also understand how and why the opinions surrounding social media differ across generations, genders, various educational backgrounds, occupations, socioeconomic statuses, and geographical locations. Through an online, participant-oriented, descriptive, quantitative study that utilized a broad sample population through convenience and snowball sampling to gather information from eligible undergraduate students and higher education professionals at the University of Southern Mississippi using a questionnaire through the online survey system called "Qualtrics", information was collected to help higher education stakeholders better define the standards of accountability and establish acceptable policies and procedures for utilizing social media to help maintain positive relationships and build rapport within higher education. Administrators at institutions of higher learning have the responsibility to ensure that there are proper social media ethics policies and procedures in place at their respective schools to help alleviate potential issues and lawsuits. The results of this research study indicate that there is a shift in social media trends within higher education. There are many generational stereotypes that affect how each generation views the other, and this research study proves that the opinions of generational cohorts are not as definitive as some literature suggests. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]