Myspace management

The alternative title I was considering is: “Don’t be that girl.” It could just as easily read: “Don’t be that guy.” What girl/guy am I talking about? The one that has risqué pictures that look like photos you would send in if you were trying to audition for an adult movie…and I don’t mean the rated R kind. Don’t be that person who is obviously intoxicated in every photo you have posted. And for crying out loud, don’t post pictures of yourself or others doing something illegal. If you were lucky enough to get away with it the first time don’t push your luck by advertising your criminality to the whole wide world.

There are other dos and don’ts for social networking sites. Always be safety conscious; don’t post your address and phone number unless you like the thrill you get when a twice convicted, violent rapist knocks on your door with a bouquet of roofies and duct-tape.

Why the academic concern with Myspace and social networking sites in general? One, you are probably in college because eventually you would like a job, a well paying one preferably. Professional industry is increasingly screening candidates’ online personas as part of the application process. Just as you wouldn’t put an email address of istealthings@gmail.com on your resume you don’t want your employer to write you off based on the information you disseminate about yourself online.

Even if your employer glosses over the picture of you on the toilet that you have posted in your pictures, your co-workers may not be so forgiving. All your potential co-workers are not seventy year old technophobes that scorn and shun social networking sites. You could find yourself on the receiving end of the office scuttlebutt wondering why you keep getting passed over for promotion after promotion while the pencil neck in the cubicle next to you is already the regional manager.

All this worrying about the future may seem unnecessary. After all, you have a few more years in school, and once you get out then you will clean up your online act. If you aren’t worried about your reputation now ask yourself a few simple questions. Would my family be ashamed of the persona I have created online? Am I contributing to improving the reputation of my university, Greek organization, or community? As more and more people join the social networking movement, more and more people have access to your information and make judgments not only about you, but about the communities that you belong to.

There are a few ways that you can maintain a risqué online persona if your attitude towards persona management is on the blasé end of the spectrum. The easiest is setting your profile to private. Next, be aware that there are lots of people out there that want your information so they can take something from you. They may want to post comments about a gift card on your page. All you have to do is fill out six forms, enroll for three services, and provide them with your social security number, and you will receive a $200 gift certificate. Meanwhile, you have just jeopardized your credit rating and financial security. In the long run that is a big trade off. Ten years from now if you can’t get financing to buy a home or car that $200 gift certificate is not going to seem like such a good deal. Plus, when employers, co-workers, and others see that you fall for these scams they make inferences about your common sense. They think, “if this person is willing to risk their own security, can they be trusted to not to risk our organization’s security?” This is especially a concern because of the virus riddled state of many social networking sites. Hackers and bored yet computer savvy people the world over are building Myspace sites designed with no other purpose than to disseminate malignant code.

If you still aren’t convinced, you may be surprised at how easy it is to access your information without meaning too. If I were to Google your name and the name of your high school there is a very good chance your Myspace profile will be one of the first returns that Google provides. Keep that in mind when you are trashing your professors online using their full names. When you spew bile about someone in a public forum, don’t be surprised if it gets back to them.

Now that Facebook has expanded their services to anyone with a job and three fingers with which they can type with, it is just as vulnerable to exploitation and data mining as Myspace. Don’t be fooled.