Protect Your Future Online

By Jose, Teen Portal Staff Writer

Well, you apply to some prestigious college or (looking even further into the future) to a high-paying job, just to find out you did not make the cut. You have great grades, tons work and extracurricular experience, and were perhaps the top of your class -- so what gives? Perhaps something as innocent as Facebook or Myspace or the power of Google might have affected you.

Maybe something to the tune of this is in store:

Student: “Thanks for granting me an interview. I'm very excited about the possibility of coming to [insert school of choice}.”

College Rep: “Sure, thanks for coming in. Now, your essay mentioned how much you enjoy doing community service, yet when I Googled your Blog, one of your postings said, and here I'll quote: ‘Those kids who do after-school community service are losers -- wasting their time with an activity just so they can put it on their résumés.’ Now explain to me what you meant by that comment.”

Student: “Ummm ... I never thought you'd be reading that."
Many college admission officers and practically all employers are searching the Internet for your name. Some, if not all, go straight to the giant and insert your name into that box on Google's homepage. Sometimes they find stuff, and sometimes they do not. Either way, they are searching for your online presence, and you need to protect yourself, both on the Web and in the real world.

Before we continue, let us get one thing straight... NOTHING IS PRIVATE ON THE INTERNET. Not your private blog, not your private page on a social networking site, not even your Internet.

Facebook, along with many other social-network sites, make its users, especially teenagers, oblivious to the real world's troubles. All they really encourage us to think about is: "OMG, my friend has more friends then me" or perhaps "OMG, my friend has a better picture then me; I should put up a better one." Now, considering the content of that picture, it could have a profound effect on your future.

Due to that picture, a college admissions officer might see you in a light that lands your application in the reject pile. But it’s not just colleges and employers who might turn that proud picture into one of shame. Someone could also copy your pictures and information and put them on the Internet, for all to see. Now we do not want that, do we? Or, your parents could somehow find them, and put you on restriction into eternity.

Now I’m not trying to scare you into closing down the hatches on the internet; I’m just giving you a little nudge because protecting yourself Online is actually pretty easy. Some great tips include:

1. Putting fake information into some of the fields (including the name field) when you sign up for a new social networking account;

2. Not posting pictures you wouldn’t want your parents (or potential colleges and employers) to see;

3. Making sure you think before you write something on the Web (even if you think the site is private).