subject: Keep Your Reputation Untarnished [print this page] It seems so harmless to get online and talk it up. On Facebook, you can post just about anything for the world to see. You can post your ideas about life, work, school, even the people in your life. You can announce a political or religious stand or even post pictures of the good time you had with friends last night. Twitter allows you also to have a voice.
How many individuals are on your Facebook wall? How many follow you on Twitter? Who is reading what you write and what are you telling the world with your posts? Most people have several hundred friends or followers with very few being real true blue friends. It is truly important to understand that anything that you put on the web can be visited by others. Just because you think you have your wall as private or have some people blocked from finding you is no guarantee of privacy. As a matter of fact it is no warranty of anything.
Social media is very public and very social. Being vague and non-specific when making posts online is the best way to be. If you want to say something personal to someone do it in a personal message. Don't announce big and embarrassing things on your Facebook Wall or on Twitter that you really don't want everyone to know about for years to come.
These websites help to shape your reputation and when it comes to getting into college it is not just about what grades you have achieved but also about who you are as a person. And don't think that college recruiters won't find a way to get into your Facebook wall and view what you have. Everyone does have a right to freedom of speech but what may seem appropriate to your friends who know you when you are upset, and what will seem appropriate to a college recruitment officer or a potential employer may be entirely different.
Safeguard your reputation and watch what you write on these social media sites. Voicing your opinion is terrific but doing so in a way that counteracts your future plans and goals really doesn't appear sensible. Share your personal information with those you personally know and can trust, and for everyone else be sure to keep it simple and vague. In the long run this will help you to keep a nice online reputation.
