You probably have a facebook account. That’s great, because, as a college student, facebook isn’t only a great way to stay in touch but it is also vital in pursuing your career after school. If you don’t have a facebook account, I know it can seem overwhelming or even ludicrous, but having a facebook account can be very beneficial.
Facebook can be fun and surprisingly useful as a self-promotion and networking tool; but it also can create serious safety and privacy issues and well as wreak havoc on a person’s social and professional life. According to the website, the average facebook user has 130 confirmed friends, but I believe that the demographic of college students has more than that (“Press Room”). I tested the theory and tallied up the average number of friends 30 of my college friends have. Granted, these numbers weren’t calculated with any level of sophistication, but it may give you an idea of who you might be sitting next to. That number is more like 504 friends, with the lowest number being 110 and the most being 1,106 friends. That’s a lot of people to be sharing personal information with.
Safety Issues:
Perhaps the most necessary issue to consider is safety. It can be awfully tempting to have personal conversations on somebody’s wall or to update your status with every passing interest. But if you don’t edit what you say you may be putting yourself or one of your friends in danger.
There are many stories about people posting that they’re going out of town only to come home to find their home has been broken into. In Nashua, New Hampshire it went so far that a gang decided it was an efficient way to target homes. They hit 50 homes in one month (Mello). It’s only natural to be excited to be going home for Christmas or going to Vegas to live out the Katy Perry song. But when you announce this to 1,000 of your “friends” anyone that is hard up for some cash may decide to break into your apartment or dorm, since you left it clearly marked that there will be nobody at home.
When you’re leaving town isn’t the only time you should worry about people knowing where you are. The improper use of status updates could allow some people to pay more attention to you than you may think possible. If you mention that you’re off to class every Monday and Wednesday at 2:00, and that the walk to Sims Hall is treacherous in the snow, people can very easily find you. You never know who is keeping track of your activities, so it’s best to keep your location to yourself.
The facebook app, facebook Places, is showing signs of gaining many users; people can share their locations instantly. If you have hundreds of people who can see where you are, it may be best to make sure your privacy settings are highly tuned. And never post when you are home, and where “home” is.
Privacy Issues:
Phishing and scamming
You really have to be careful which apps you apply to your profile, because your personal safety isn’t the only thing at stake; you are also risking your privacy. When you agree to use an application you usually have to agree to let the application have full reign on your profile information. Also, there are many imposter applications that will link your account to outside websites where it can convince you and your friends to enter their personal information and lure more people into the scam.
Sometimes these sites are only mildly malicious and easily denied access to further access to your account. Other times these outside users will go so far as to luring your friends to “loan you money” when you are trapped in some faraway land. Be wary of your friends that are spending a semester abroad who suddenly need you to wire them some cash. You should probably give them a call and hear it first hand. Facebook offers some tips on protecting yourself via their “security page” (“Help Center”).
Tagging photos
If your friends are little closer to home, you still have to worry about your privacy. Let’s pretend that you have two parties to choose between this weekend; one is going to be a blow-the-roof-off-throw-down, the other a quiet birthday party at Applebee’s. You’ve had a rough week with 3 midterms and a presentation, and you just want to cut loose. So you tell the birthday girl that you would love to come, but you absolutely have to study. Then the next day you see you’re tagged in 27 photos in which you’re dancing on a pool table. And even before your friend could post those little pieces of history, another friend had tagged you through facebook Places as “Checked In” on Euclid Ave. So how can you avoid these little tattle-tales?
Well, you could be honest with friend number 1 and tell her you already made plans. Or you could make sure you have your privacy settings highly tuned. It’s probably a good idea to go under you’re privacy setting, and under the subheading “things people share about me”, mark “tagged photos“ as “only me” (“General Safety”). If there’s something you really want everyone to see, you can always download it and share it yourself. Or once you’ve reviewed the pictures you are tagged in you can simply remove the tag from the pictures you don’t approved of.
Promoting Yourself
Networking
But facebook isn’t all monsters and demons. As of July 2010 there were 500 million active users. 100 million of the users were new since February 2010 (“Press Room”). This means that you can connect with friends back home, new friends here in Syracuse, people that really like the same musician as you, and that cute girl in your CRS class.
One of the best ways to keep your network checking in on what you’re doing is the proper use of the “like” button. The school paper from Ole Miss offers some help. There’s a reason there isn’t a “dislike” button on the website. If a friend says something about a failed test or hard class, you may empathize, but you don’t “like” that they are struggling. Take the time to show you care and write out a comment; this will keep you from appearing that you are mocking them and they will be more likely to reciprocate (Mosby). Conversely, if you are always complaining about things on your page, people are more likely to hit that ignore button. Your goal for successful networking should be to get as many “likes” as you can. Post your successes and things that you care about and truly “like” yourself (Maguire).
Potential employers
And because there are so many people using facebook, chances are your future boss is using the website also. They want to promote their company as much as they want to check in on you, their new employee, so it would be beneficial to both of you if you can be friends. You should have a handle on concealing that pool-table dance and you should share that charity work you did last month. You shouldn’t have your privacy settings set so high that no one can tell anything about you. But you only want to share what you truly want to share. Write a meaningful bio and pick a tasteful quote. Share some pictures of you on world trips and dressed to a T. These little details will show your potential employer that you know how to put your best foot forward and that you don’t need to hide who you are.
Facebook and other social networking sites are the future of how the world will communicate. We know this from movies like “the social network” and the thousands of dollars people make from their YouTube channels. Our children won’t know a world without these platforms for communication, and we want to set a good precedent. If we start with these basics and innovate new ways to become successful with the aid of these sites, we can change the way society operates, eliminate inefficiencies, and still maintain our privacy and safety.
Works Cited
“General Safety”. facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
“Help Center.” facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
Maguire, Rob. “13 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page.” Robmaguire.com. December 22, 2008. Web. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
Mellow, John P. Jr. “Gang Uses Facebook to Rob Houses.” PCWorld. pcworld.com. September 10, 2010. Web. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
Mosby, Jon. “How to Use the ‘Like’ Button on Facebook.” The Daily Mississipian. TheDMonline.com. August 31, 2010. Web. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
“Press Room.” facebook.com. Web. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
