As another school year is coming to a close, many graduates are setting out to find their first job. Preparing for the professional world includes resumes, cover letters and practicing interview questions. This generation now has another consideration that demands attention and thought, what do I do with my MySpace and Facebook pages?
Most college students use these sites to connect with friends, tag pictures of their crazy Spring Break romps and make weekend plans. As we graduate and move into the professional world is it time to trade in MySpace and Facebook for Linkdin? This decision must be made individually, but here are some key questions to consider as you grow beyond college and your early twenties:
Who can see these pages? Are your profiles private? If not, they should be.
What image do I give off? Are all of your pictures from parties or nightclubs? If so, what does this show about your life, your morals and your goals?
If my grandparents or parents saw this, would they be proud of me?
Are my comments inappropriate?
Do I have too much personal information available? NEVER a good idea.
If my current or future employer saw this, what would they think? Do you portray the image they represent?
It is crucial that we realize that social networking sites can be damaging to your professional life. You don’t have to cancel everything, just begin to think twice about what you say and do online. Privacy is truly a thing of the past. Crazy nights may come and go, but what is online is available forever! Think twice future grads!
That is so true with what you are saying. I am 21 and ive been on myspace since 2006 and Im sick of it already. There are alot of spammers, young kids, grown people trying to hold on to high school popularity rank, and many other things. People should take extreme security measures since myspace is basically adding new things to the site which is somewhat similar to what facebook is having. The only difference is that facebook has public info such as telephone numbers and addresses posted on the pages. I think that eventually it will become an issue or used against you on a professional level. We should just be careful with how we post our pics. So many people can take pics and photoshop.