You may be very proud of that picture of you doing a kegstand. You can still hear the throngs of people cheering you on as you won the admiration of everyone at the party. You decide to share your moment of glory with the world and put the picture up on the Facebook. Such divine talent craves the appreciation of the entire Internet community. A month or so later, you apply for this awesome internship helping Playboy photographers, and it’s down to you and someone who doesn’t have any pictures up on the Facebook. It may be Playboy, but it’s still been a while since they were in college, and instead of thinking, “Dude, that kid’s hardcore! Let’s hire him!” they want someone who is “responsible.” Your rival could be a total crackhead, who has put more illegal substances in his or her body than Barry Bonds and Kate Moss combined. Baggies filled with fine white powder in a shady Best Western turn out to be irrelevant because Playboy is looking at Facebook profiles, not drug tests. On your profile, Playboy sees that you have a proclivity to drink massive amounts of alcohol, and the crackhead gets the job.
The Facebook should be a private medium for college students to share their drunken exploits and stalk each other, but unfortunately, it is not. The reality of the situation is that employers, among other people, will use the Facebook if it can help them get valuable information about possible employees. So the lesson is clear: have a little discretion when it comes to your Facebook profile.
It is important to remember that anyone with a Wash. U. e-mail address can open up a Facebook account and see the information of anyone who doesn’t block him or her. This includes employers who are recent alums, as well as professors and WUPD. So if you’re in a small class where the professor knows who you are, it might not be the best idea to join a Facebook group that bashes his teaching skills and dooms his soul to the fiery pits of hell. And even though WUPD denies using Facebook to bust up parties, Police Chief Don Strom said that he would be willing to use Facebook as part of an investigation. It might not be a good idea to have too much incriminating information on your profile. Even if WUPD isn’t looking for parties on the Facebook, RAs could be, so posting dorm parties in such a public forum could make for an unpleasant celebration.
We’re not saying don’t do kegstands, just don’t post pictures of them because you don’t know who will see them.
There are two important words to remember here: privacy settings.