Social Media

I'm sure you've had a lot of lecturing about social media and representing yourself on the web. As a graphic designer, I can say that it's a good idea to have an online presence. It definitely helps in networking and finding a job. However, it is true that you should control what is out there on the internet about you. If any of your social media profiles are "open," any of your professors and future employers might stumble upon them and then have a less than favorable opinion of you because of a photo your cousin's friend's boyfriend posted and tagged you in. I'm not saying you can't have any fun or post any crazy pictures, but I do think you need to be careful who you allow to see them. Also, keep in mind you need to be careful who and what you complain about because things can be misinterpreted online.

A good idea prior to going off to college or graduating from college is to "clean up" your profiles. Go through and see if there are any incriminating photos of you or swearing from your friends on your profile. These things definitely WON'T help you get a job if your potential employer happens to stumble across them. Of course, like I said earlier, you have less work to do if you just keep everything private. Speaking of keeping things private, there are some things you should keep public. You SHOULD advertise your name, any school or education you have achieved, and perhaps your hometown or current area (which you can generalize). You do want people to be able to find you online because that's what social media is for. Just remember that anything you have set to public should be flattering or used to identify / clarify your online identity without exposing too much personal information. In summation, you don't have to be paranoid about what you put online, but it does pay to be thoughtful about it.