Protecting your online reputation while in college

Protecting your online reputation is not only important for your personal privacy; it will also come into play during your college career and future employability. This recent article about how your online reputation could negatively impact a potential employer’s perception of you is particularly interesting.

As we all see, social networking web sites are becoming an integral part of everyone’s lives. Facebook, for instance, is where you are free to express yourself, share your pictures and thoughts, make new friends and renew old friendships. However, things you do or say on Facebook determine the person you really are; whatever you post will follow you for the rest of your life. I am personally anticipating more people not getting hired or getting fired because of things they put on their social profiles on the internet. Your career’s future success depends partly on your reputation, and your reputation is getting built on social media sites. I once heard someone say: “If you wouldn’t do it in real life, do not do it on Facebook.” Reputation and security are the main reasons why you want to be careful.

Here are some things that I avoid doing on Facebook that I believe can negatively impact both your personal security and reputation:

1. Disclosing your phone number and address, especially when your page is open to the public
2. Sharing inappropriate pictures
3. Sharing things that would be a hint for your password. For instance, “I grew up in Fontamara and my first pet was named Nina.” These are clues to guess your password as those are answers to security questions.
4. Posting arrogant status updates
5. Posting about every single move you make. For example, “I am at school; I will be going home around 5 today.”
6. Using of very poor grammar in your posts or comments
7. Accepting friend requests from complete strangers

If you avoid making these mistakes, you can better protect your security and privacy and help build a more positive online reputation. People who view your profile are not only your friends, but they are also professors, potential employers or co-workers. While Facebook is a wonderful way to connect with friends and share your college experience, but keep in mind that could come back to haunt you later in life.