PSonCampus

It’s no secret that social media applications like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are changing the way people experience the web. After all, Facebook has more than 300 million active users and 50% of them are logging on daily. LinkedIn boasts that executives from all Fortune 500 companies are members. And for Twitter, 140 characters per tweet was enough for Oprah (and consequently over 1.2 million viewers) to join – membership is now estimated somewhere between 5 and 10 million.

While it’s fun to chronicle our lives on these sites, it’s important to remember who might be watching. Your, “enjoying the sun and playing hooky from work,” status might be interpreted a little differently by your college roommate than by your prospective employer.  

It’s equally important to remember that these sites call for authenticity, transparency, and humility. When people visit your Facebook or LinkedIn profile, they want to see a genuine representation of who you are – they don’t want to see an exaggerated version of your resume.

So what’s the answer? How can we participate on these sites while both accurately reflecting who we are AND considering our vulnerability?

One question I like to ask myself: Is my profile interview proof? In other words, if I was sitting in a stranger’s office, talking to someone who doesn’t know me at all, would I feel okay giving them a tour of my Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter page?

An MSN article has some things to say about this, too. For more info, read, “More Employers Screening Via Social Media Sites.”