The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

FEATURE: A blog is for life, not just for Christmas

Haroula Pasparaki considers the damaging effects of careless social networking

It’s time to be honest. When you come back from an amazing holiday/concert/night out, is one of your first thoughts that you have to put your photos up online or check your Facebook or Bebo account?

Many of us belong to one if not several social networking sites, and while they boast numerous benefits, we are often unaware of how incriminating and damaging some content we post online may be to our education, personal security and future employment.

Increased concerns have emerged due to the well publicised negative aspects of such sites, ranging from cyber bullying to identity theft and even expulsion from universities and denial of employment.

Students aged between 16 and 21 are generally unaware of the “electronic footprint” they leave behind. As a result of exceptionally easy access and the wide spectrum of such blogs, many potential universities and employers are vetting candidates according to their online profiles.

This means that anybody see those photos of nights out or sensitive personal information (unless you chose an infallible privacy setting), and such material allows future employers to judge you, as your site is often regarded as an electronic representation of you as a professional adult.

Students are at risk of further endangering themselves through possible identity theft. We often post social and class schedules and put up basic information such as a home address, a pet’s name or a mother’s maiden name. These can all be used to make password combinations and access online bank accounts or obtain products and services in someone’s name.

Reports have shown that a third of users do not know how to manage their private information. Nevertheless, the Information Commissioner’s Office stated that around 4.5 million youths do not want a university or potential employer to conduct an internet search on them without prior notice, enabling them to remove seemingly harmful content from their site.

Unfortunately Nikki*, 23, did not get that opportunity. She lost her job as a bank assistant after topless photos of her at a hen night were found on her facebook profile.

“I never thought that my employers would monitor my profile. It was just a bit of girlie fun at the time, but I understand now that it does not look good as a young professional. I wouldn’t employ someone who acted like that myself.”

• Always log off when you use a public computer.
• Remember that photos which are uploaded can be seen by anyone unless you specify otherwise. If you think a photo could be damaging, un-tag your name or take it down from the site.
• Avoid listing details such as your full address or telephone number.
• Remember, if you wouldn’t put it on your C.V, don’t post it on your blog!

Tags: Bebo, Facebook, Social networking

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.