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K.I.T.-ing.

Keeping in touch, or K.I.T.-ing , has become significantly easier with the dawn of the internet. Gone are the days of the written letter or phone call. These days, it’s all about the quickly and the easily shooting your friend an email or instant message. You can easily K.I.T. with your old high school buddies and the new friends you’ve made in college, but even “easy” has drawbacks. The main drawback being: loss of privacy. Yes, it is easy and fun to post the pictures from last Saturday night and leave your friends comments with funny quotes they’ve said in their incoherent states. However, you must always be mindful that your friends are not the only people looking at your profile. The Internet has made it easy for everyone, including employers and stalkers, to keep track of the inner-workings of your days.  They can see who you’re in a relationship with, what events you’re attending and the subsequent pictures from these events. They can see anything that you let them see. This just means some self-censorship is necessary. Utilize your privacy options. I do not know about you, but I would not want my potential employer knowing what I did last Saturday night. Seymour is right, there are simple ways to cut down the chances of potential employers/parents seeing things you do not want them to see. Just be aware that people are looking and everything you do/post is a reflection of who you are.  

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Posted by Jen on 10/09/2008 02:07:00 PM
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Check me out on Facebook!

Great post, Suzanne! If used properly, social networking sites are an amazing resource and tool for networking and job sourcing.

In fact, I'm a BIG fan of Facebook! Have any of you seen my Facebook profile? I've got a national job search feed and TONS of helpful information to get you ready for your next job.

Let's be friends! Check me out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Lauderdale-FL/Spherion/24067120695

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Posted by Seymour Jobs on 10/08/2008 11:16:00 AM
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Facebook: A Virtual Resume

When I first came to college, Facebook was just beginning to build in popularity. Initially I made a profile to see what my new roommates would be like before I moved in, but it has taken on so much more functions since. Shortly after, I made a Myspace, but I prefer Facebook. I feel that Facebook can be a great tool, if used properly. I don't agree that anyone should have to erase their Facebook, but people definitely should censor themselves. I know that I behave differently depending on the situation (whether I'm in church or with my family versus hanging out with friends) I look at the internet as another situation in which I censor what I post. Even if a picture or comment means one thing to me and my friends, when someone else reads it, they can take it a completely different way and it may offend them. People may chose to dislike you based on what is essentially a miscommunication that you are unaware of. Being in a sorority, being an RA and also on student government, I definitely monitor what pictures are tagged of me and what people write on my wall. Another thing that I try to do now is be careful about which events I RSVP to on Facebook. I never though this was an issue until I heard about a guy who had stalked a girl and would show up at parties she went to because he saw it all on Facebook! Scary! So my advice to incoming freshman or new college graduates is to be careful about every single piece of information that you put out there. I am not trying to say that Facebook is a bad thing, I love mine. I use it in the Greek community, in the clubs I am in, to keep in touch with friends from high school etc. I feel that Facebook is essentially my virtual resume. I make sure my pictures are always good reflections of my life and since I represent many jobs and organizations, I am always aware at how my Facebook reflects on them too.

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Posted by Suzanne on 10/08/2008 01:43:00 AM
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Social Networking Damage Control

Saturday night was great.

So great that you don’t even remember it.

You log into your Facebook account, and suddenly, it all comes back to you. Every drink consumed, every obscene gesture made, every porcelain god desecrated – each has been painstakingly documented for all to see, complete with a link to your full profile.

You had just interviewed for that dream job Friday. You know that employers have finally gotten with the times and will likely be scouring your page to learn more about you and assess your character. Uh-oh... time to panic!

When not properly configured, your profile can be a huge liability. Luckily, there are measures that can be taken to keep you secure and mitigate fallout from PR disasters such as the one described above. Facebook and other social networking sites care about your privacy (and avoiding lawsuits), so they’ve implemented a number of features designed to keep you safe and lead prying eyes astray. Knowing what they are and how to properly utilize them can mean the difference between getting a promotion and getting the boot. It bears mentioning, however, that more tech-savvy HR departments have ways of circumventing whatever measures you’ve taken to cover your digital footprints – unfortunately, your safest bet is to erase the offending profile altogether. Having said that, the following precautions are a must if you’re not willing or able to jump off the face of the Web just yet.

1.) Set everything to “Private” or “Friends Only.” Always. This one’s a crapshoot, but it’s the simplest way to divert unwanted traffic from your page. All you need to do is tweak your account settings so that only friends or specific individuals can access your profile. Some sites allow you to choose exactly which components of your profile are friend-exclusive and which can be viewed by the public. Protection of this sort is laughably easy for someone with the know-how to bypass, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

2.) Delete all potentially incriminating or offensive material from your profile.If this sounds too much like selling your soul, don’t worry, it’s not. You’re simply concealing certain aspects of your inner being because they are embarrassing and shameful. Actually, “selling your soul” sounds better. Let’s stick with that. The bottom line is this – you shouldn’t have anything on your page that you wouldn’t mind your parents or kid sister seeing, regardless of how laid-back you perceive your employer and co-workers to be. If the wrong person stumbles across something questionable on your profile, it won’t be long before you find yourself in a difficult place. Better safe than sorry.

3.) Choose your friends wisely.If the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that appearances can be deceiving. No matter how credible they seem, always look upon unsolicited friend requests with suspicion. The person on the other end could be a wily employer.
Or a spammer.
Or a stalker.
Or the Feds.
You get the picture. Also, consider removing any “friends” that you have no legitimate real-world connection to. People know other people, it’s a small world, and word gets around fast. This may sound overly paranoid, but remember that saying anything online is usually tantamount to barking it through a megaphone in a public square – you’ll want a small crowd should you say something inappropriate.

Networking sites can be excellent social and professional tools, and their benefits generally surpass their drawbacks. Just be mindful of the fact that they’re to be used in certain ways – and broadcasting the intimate details of your personal life to the world’s half-billion Internet users isn’t (usually) one of them. If you play it safe, this shouldn’t be a problem. If you don’t, I eagerly await next Saturday’s batch of pictures... They’ll be good for a laugh!

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Posted by Seymour Jobs on 10/03/2008 11:18:00 AM
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Social Networking/Bookmarking

One of my classmates had me check her facebook through-and-through to make sure she didn't have anything offensive or inappropriate as she is starting her job search.

As I was looking, it struck me that there is no way you can have a completely clean blog/social networking site/social bookmarking site. You will always have something that reflects your politics and/or beliefs, and there is bound to be someone who doesn't agree.

I think, instead of people deleting their pages or trying to hide behind a privacy block, they should consider how they portray themselves, meaning the language used and the sources to back up your argument.

Future employers who come across a well-designed, well thought-out blog would end up drawing a more positive impression than if you have no site at all.

As our generation becomes more educated and tech savvy, few people will believe we are not plugged into myspace, facebook, linked in, etc., and a lack of an internet presence could end up detrimental, especially in a field like mine where we must all master the wave of communication trends.

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Posted by Christina on 11/27/2007 03:54:00 PM
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