Admissions Is Checking You Out Online
In 2008 Kaplan conducted a survey of 500 top colleges. According to the Wall Street Journal the Kaplan survey found that 10% of the college admissions officers said that they looked on social networking sites as they evaluated applicants and that 38% of them said that their view of the applicant was “negatively affected” while 25% said their opinion was influenced positively. Last year another report (from the National Association for College Admissions) said that 25% of colleges were using web search and social networking sites to access information about applicants. This year, we can probably safely estimate that the number of colleges using the web to gather information about college applicants will be even greater.
So, if you began thinking about managing your online reputation from the moment you first began accessing the web and so did all of your friends then you probably don’t need to give this a second thought…..but if you are like most of us mere mortals there are probably at least a few things available online that we don’t put on our resumes or college applications. And as the lines between what is private and what is public online continue to blur, just exactly who might be accessing what, where and when is something about which you need to give some serious thought.
Private and Public Lines Are Crossing Online
First, even though you haven’t been thinking about your digital footprint since you started making one, as soon as you start thinking about starting to think about college applications you should take a realistic inventory of what content you have put up online and what others have put up online that includes you. As you start your inventory, filter this through what you know is public and what you believe is private. As you no doubt know, there are privacy settings for Facebook and other social networks such as Linkedin but essentially, your information is public by default and you must manually make changes to the default. If you haven’t paid a lot of attention to this, you are not alone. According to Facebook only 33% of users changed their privacy settings in December when the latest changes were made.
There are many resources available to help navigate the privacy settings on Facebook and on Linkedin. However, one of the problems is that they can change and on Facebook change seems to be one of the constants. Another problem is that the settings are not a perfect wall. For instance, if you have your own privacy settings set so that only your friends can see your photo albums but I don’t and you appear in my photo album of say a party that we both attended, the party photo with you in it is accessible to anyone on Facebook. Also, if you and I are Facebook friends and you are having a wall-to-wall conversation with someone who is a friend of yours but not of mine, I can follow the whole conversation.
So, as Danah Boyd noted in her keynote address at SXSW this past weekend, technology has made a mess of what is public and what is private and recognizing this is important.
You Can Manage Your Online Identity But You Can’t Control It
So, what’s the lesson thus far? Well of course you can’t control every photo that has been taken of you in the past and posted somewhere online. But, if there are photos that you would rather not be potentially visible to an admission officer, a potential employer or anyone besides your closest, most trusted friends who know the real you, then make an effort to get them off of social networking sites….maybe the owner of that party photo album is also applying to colleges and would be receptive to the “take down” suggestion. For the future, think before you comment or update in a social network site.
And as you are taking that inventory look at what you find in terms of the parts making up the whole….look at your Facebook profile again. If a profile by definition is supposed to provide a summary of relevant data and characteristics about who we are you might want to consider making your Facebook profile do just that, in the context that you are now applying to colleges. Look at the profiles on all the social networks that you use and consider this.
Just remember though, the “rules of engagement” on social networks are controlled by the networks. Consider accumulating content on your own blog or website so that you have control of your online identity. If your name is available as a domain, buy it. It is $10 or so well worth spending; this is the ultimate in controlling your online identity.
Manage to the Whole
Furthermore, when the admissions officer searches for you online, your own accumulated definition of who you are will be there alongside Facebook or Twitter. (Another tip from Marshall Kirkpatrick about keeping your own site as your primary identity; follow him @marshallk and/or read him; you will learn a lot) Provide your url as part of your contact information whenever you can and suggest that the interviewer visits your site. Put those photos of your high school community service up on your site and write a little paragraph (or more) about your experience. You made a video for a school project, upload it to your site. Create a place online that gives people your perspective about who you are. Creating it will also help you think about all those pieces and parts that make up the whole you which are the same input that go into the components of your college application, interview and essay.
So, to summarize. Social networks are public by default. Manage your privacy settings knowing that you don’t have ultimate control. If there is a photo of you on Facebook after a rigorous round of beer pong don’t make it your profile picture. And don’t worry too much about a few less than flattering “parts” ; it is the whole you that matters so manage to that.
