Smart social networking can prevent damage to professional image

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Since Friendster strolled onto the scene in 2002, the Internet has seen a distinct shift in how it is used.

It has also changed the way people in the professional world have to manage their images.

In the 1990s the Internet — as I remember it — was a place for procuring information, sending mail electronically and instant messaging.

That was the Internet before the explosion of social networking sites that changed the way we surf the Web and communicate with friends.

I remember when I first signed up for MySpace. I thought it was so cool! I started finding all my current and past friends, my favorite bands and people who had similar interests to mine.

Slowly, it started to consume more and more of my time online. Instead of e-mailing friends, I’d send messages on MySpace.

And then came Facebook, and we all know where that goes. Facebook is now a verb. It’s the Google of social networking sites. You can get news, connect with friends and instant message.

But with the ever-growing presence of social networking in our lives, there comes a responsibility many people do not consider — managing your presence online.

This is especially important for college students; within a few years many of us will be walking with diploma in hand into the working world.

Managing a presence online is not just about making sure f-bombs aren’t dropped all over your Twitter feed or your Facebook wall, but also about consistency and privacy.

Many potential employers will troll social networking sites looking for interviewees’ profiles, and sometimes those profiles can make or break a job opportunity. You might have the best interview in the world, but having photos of you hitting a bong on your Facebook does not look so good.

Facebook is consistently changing its privacy settings, which makes it hard to stay up to date on the latest privacy settings.

The most recent instance of this is Facebook’s Places, which if not changed, allows friends to check other friends in at, say, the bar or a restaurant.

As for consistency, if you are using social networking in any sort of professional manner, there should be an air of similarity between your social networks.

Using social networking sites personally is par for the course, but you don’t want to be overly personal if you are using the sites to build an online reputation.

Most employers don’t care whether or not you’re having a bad day or that “so-and-so is being a jerk.” What they are looking for, especially in the media field, is if you can communicate with others and effectively disseminate information.

Facebook and Twitter are fun, but the older we get the more we must use them as tools of the trade.