Admissions 101: What About Facebook Excesses?

Did any of you read an article entitled “Admissions 101: Do parents need special tools to hide their children's Facebook excesses?”, published last week in the Washington Post? It makes for very interesting reading.

I’ll summarize it for you: it basically discusses how what students put on their Facebook profile may affect their chances of getting in the college or university of their dreams as more and more people in charge of admissions take the time to check what the applicants are saying on Facebook. When I first read that, I thought to myself: “Boy, that’s a big can of worms we are opening with this one”! 

The journalist pointed out that there are now companies specializing in providing products that allow parents to monitor what they children do on Facebook and asks whether or not this is the way to go. OK, so I’ll level with you. I know a lot about Internet monitoring (or ‘snooping’, as some people like to refer to it). I worked in that industry for almost 10 years. This type of software is nothing new, and the inherent issues it opens up in terms of privacy and the use of the Internet is something that I wrote about and discussed on more times that I can care to mention. I was one of the first people to talk about security issues related to social networking in a report called ‘Web 2.0 Security’. Don’t worry, I am not going to launch into a very long and boring diatribe about the technicalities of web monitoring, but I will impart a couple of very interesting lessons I learned during that time.

The first thing to know is that it doesn’t matter how good your internet monitoring solution is, you will never be able to stop all illegal or ‘mischievous’ activity. The software solutions available out there are always a step behind what users are doing, in addition to which, kids are always a step ahead of their parents anyway. The other thing to note is that again, it doesn’t matter how good your monitoring solution is, if someone is intent on doing something they shouldn’t online, they’ll find a way.

So, my advice to all of you – students and parents – is to start learning to use these wonderful social media tools smartly. This is one of the things we actually go through with each and everyone one of our students here at Escape Studios before they finish their courses with us. It’s pointless trying to argue whether or not colleges and universities have a right to ‘snoop’ on your Facebook profile. The fact of the matter is that if it’s available to them, they’ll do it. And it’s not just them, it’s your future employers too!

So, in an effort to help you all make sense of what you should and shouldn’t do, I have put together my 5 top tips for a more “socially acceptable” use of Facebook, that doesn’t actually kill all enjoyment or stop you from communicating with your palls.

1. Create more than one profile
If you are not willing to be careful about what you put on your Facebook profile, then create 2 profiles. One that you keep private and where you can put whatever you like, and another which you make public and where you only put things which any college, university or future employer can look at. Keep them totally separate.

2. Don't be a slave to you 'friends’
Don’t accept friends’ requests and invitations from people you don’t know. I know it is tempting to brag to your friends that you have more followers than them and are therefore more popular, but honestly, real friends are what really matter! Otherwise you might end up having a whole bunch of people snooping on you who don’t actually have any good intentions towards you, or who might get the wrong idea about you.

3. You’re not in control of others
The thing that you must remember is that with Facebook, you don’t actually control what your friends post about you. If you don’t want them to post and tag an uncompromising photo of you then don’t put yourself in a position where you let them take these photos in the first place.

4. Remember it’s permanent
Once something is posted on the Internet – especially on social media – it can spread like wild fire. If you have made a mistake and later regret what you posted, it will more often than not be too late to do anything about it. You can remove it from your profile, but others will already have seen, used, accessed, downloaded, or posted your content.

5. Think before you post!
I know, I know, I sound like a schoolmistress, but honestly it is a sound piece of advice. Just use common sense, and before you post anything, ask yourself how this reflects upon you. Are you happy for your mum and dad to read that post? Would a future employer judge you badly based upon this content? Would your girl friend or boy friend be upset by it? And don’t just think about today’s girl friend or boy friend… What about your wife or husband to be?

To close off the topic, I just wanted to give one final piece of advice to any parent out there who is thinking about using one of these monitoring tools. By all means, go ahead, they do help. However, don't for a moment think that it will a) be enough, b) be a substitute for teaching your children right from wrong and giving them good advice. We are human beings, and much as sometimes it sounds easier to rely on technical gizmos, we can't afford to devolve parenting responsibilities to a piece of software.