Most people know that unless they block themselves from a public search, make their profile private and limit who has access to their profile, others will see their every move, photo upload, tag, etc…right? Wrong!!
Most people don’t know that! In fact it seems that no one cares that future bosses and co-workers, parents, families and friend’s parents can see everything they post. Wow, that’s embarrassing. Forget the fact that most of that shouldn’t be on the internet at all and let’s focus on what is OK and not OK to put out there in cyber space for the world (grandma, yikes) to find.
Well start with what is OK in a general sense. Notice there are some exceptions and circumstances may apply.
- Information- name, birth date (leave out the year especially if you’re under age applying for a not so underage job…), relationship status (unless you tag your off-limits co-worker as your bf/gf), hometown, current city, place of work (only if you’re allowed to…use common sense people), schools you went to, bands you like, games you play, places you’ve been.
It’s OK to put info out there that doesn’t help your stalker find you better…chances are they probably already know the above info anyways. Let us move on to the information you should not put on the internet. Some may disagree with a few of these and they are up for rebuttal, but think in general terms and think of the person with perhaps no etiquette to begin with.
- Off limits Information- Address (HELLO?!!), driver license number, places you check into (guess you’re not home, huh), extreme race, religious or political views, groups others may find creepy or un-hire-able worthy, email address (unless you prefer spam and hackers) and anything in the ‘About You’ section that goes a little too far. Keep it short and sweet and don’t go into great detail where you will be every weekend, after 5pm and sometimes lunch breaks. Also, people don’t care.
We can move on to things you shouldn’t upload to Facebook no matter what. There are no exceptions to these guys. Just don’t do it. If you do, you risk not being hired for that job you really wanted, that reputation you were trying to avoid, being spotted at that place you weren’t supposed to be at…etc. Get the idea? OK.
- Nude-like photos, camera phone in-mirror shots (those look and are trashy if you didn’t know), status updates that consist of every other word being a swear word, when you will be leaving on vacation and when you’ll return, photos of your poo, just stop it..you do realize we can all see that even though you’ve tagged your buddy, right?! Okay, that one was just a vent, it’s not actually putting you in any real danger, although it’s gross and your boss could demote you for being an idiot. Also off limits, hard partying photos that you wouldn’t want your mom or boss to see, rants about anyone on your friend list (they’ll know who you’re talking about).
It should go without saying, that even if you boss or any other authority figure is cool about drinking photos, disgusting phone camera mirror pics, etc. now, your future ones may not be. And once you put your info out in cyber space you can never get it back. If you put something out there you’re not proud of it will come back to haunt you. Play it safe with what you post and upload, comment on or write in your notes because you never know who’s looking.
