Your College Career and Social Networking: Savvy Tips for Students

With the popularity of social media Web sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Flickr skyrocketing, many of us are living our lives online to a historically unprecedented degree. As the core audience of most of these sites, teenagers and young adults are particularly likely to post extensive details about their personal lives and leisure activities online.

These days, it's not uncommon for key decision-makers like college admissions officers and hiring managers to turn to social media sites to learn more about college applicants. Use these guidelines to get a handle on what social Web sites may be saying about you.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. In the context-free world of the social web, even relatively harmless photographs can easily be misinterpreted when applying for admission to college. Take care to remove any pictures that could even possibly be construed as inappropriate.

Take control with advanced privacy settings. Many Web sites allow users to exert a granular level of control over their status updates, photos, and other personal details. If your favorite social media site offers advanced privacy settings, be sure to take advantage of them when considering your college career.

Limit authorship access on your page. In order to avoid the airing of personal details to college admissions representatives, you may want to prevent other users from posting on your page. Although this may limit the interactivity of your favorite social media sites, the measure of increased control you'll gain over your online "brand" may be worth it.

Think twice before connecting online. Sure, you get along well with your English 112 instructor, but do you really want him or her to be privy to all the gory details of your painful breakup two years from now? It pays to think long and hard before "friending" any of your professors throughout your college career.

Social media sites are a great way to keep tabs on the latest news from your friends, family members, and loved ones--but don't let your online fun sabotage your college application, college admissions, and future college career.