Keeping your stuff private

This week I chose to write about how ones image on a social networking site reflects who they are and how this image, if bad, can come back to haunt you.

I have read in the news that recruiters from major companies look on sites such as MySpace and Facebook for potential job candidates (link to the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523). Keeping this in mind, I believe it is important to keep your social spaces as “clean” as possible. It is important also to let the viewers see who you are as a person, but keep the crazy stuff for a picture album in your house where one can pull it out only when it is appropriate.

So, you may think this is silly. No one can view your site that isn’t invited and therefore your “crazy” pictures are safe, right? This is not true. People that one invites into their site as “friends” can take the pictures off of their site and either post them on their own for others to see or pass them on to others. This happened to one of my friends. She had to request the other person to take the picture off of his site. He reluctantly agreed, but who knows where it went before he removed it.

Keeping ones social networking sites clean and professional will help with ones career in the long run. Professionals are looking at potential candidates through these sites. It is important to keep this in mind while creating and maintaining social networks. Just because one has something posted doesn’t mean it will stay with them and only them. These pictures may eventually come back to haunt you someday when you least expect it.