In the year 2013, it is safe to say that the most predominant figure in society is technology. The current trend, for many students, parents and laymen alike, is to upload photographs of themselves and loved ones “living life”-but when are we showing too much? Social networking technologies are constantly being utilized by many different people in order to develop and endlessly update and modify visual profiles. These profiles allow users to represent themselves in a particular way in order to build a network that could potentially include hundreds of people. Facebook is one of the major online social networking websites that facilitates this interaction.
We can all think of a time that we took a picture with the intentions of posting it on a social media website, whether it was a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower or a picture spending time with your friends on campus. Why do people take pictures self-portrait pictures, or “selfies”? It can’t be only to remember what you looked like thirty years from now, can it?
Many college students, especially in their first year, post statuses and photographs of themselves “living it up” in college. People go out, have a good time, inhale and consume different substances and then take pictures in order to capture the night. Many of those pictures hit the social networking stream and are out for friends and other users to see. It’s common among first year students to post pictures of themselves out at parties or with new friends in order to show their friends back at home that they’ve adjusted well to the college environment and are having a great time. Students tend to post less pictures of themselves going out as they approach senior year. Why is this?
For starters more and more employers are beginning to use social networking websites as a search engine in order to screen prospective employees. Many employers frown upon photographs of potential employees in possession or in the presence of alcohol and even tobacco. According to TrendHunter Lifestyle, 91 percent of employers use social networking websites to screen prospective employees and 69 percent of the employers claimed that they have rejected a candidate because of what they saw about them on a social networking website. That is a huge number and it’s all because of what that candidate posted online. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t take pictures of yourself going out and having fun but keep the pictures in a physical photo album or on a bulletin board not on a social networking website.
What people have to keep in mind is that once you post something online it’s there forever, even if you delete it. You control the impression you make on people. One way of controlling that impression is controlling what you post on social networking sites.
There tends to be worry about different aspects of getting hired such as having a tattoo. Ever think about employers checking your Facebook profiles and finding pictures of you with your tattoo in plain site? Probably not. These are the things we must think about when we go to post on social networking websites.
On the other hand posting positive, appearance-enhancing pictures, statuses or links could help you in the long run. Not only does it provide a positive image for others to see but it could also help you in terms of employment later on. TrendHunter Lifestyle also reported that 68 percent of employers have hired candidates based on what they saw on the Internet.
Next time you go to post something it’s important to be mindful of what is posted on your profile because you never know who could see it. We used to live in a world where “you see us as you want to see us” was a carefree quote we used to live by. Now approaching 2014 we need to be aware of the way in which people see us, supported by permanent online evidence. Here’s some advice: don’t post anything on the Internet that you wouldn’t want your future self to see.