Courtesy of Coggno
Have you Googled your own name recently to see what comes up? If you did you might be surprised or even unpleasantly surprised. Today it’s easy to gain insight about who people really are due to the internet and social media.
Your online reputation is becoming increasingly important as more and more corporations and universities are doing social media background checks. A survey done by Microsoft found that 70% of Human Resource professionals have eliminated a potential employee based on what they found online. The reasons were unsuitable photos and videos, badmouthing people and past employers, inappropriate comments and drinking and drug abuse.
Students need to be aware of how their actions online can hamper their chances of getting into university. If a student is irresponsible online they run the risk that the university they apply to will place some of their metrics on that profile. Roughly 24% of admissions officers say that they do look at prospective students’ social media profiles. While 24% may not seem like a very high percentage considering that in 2008 only 10% of admissions officers used social media, it is easy to see that the number is rising.
The bottom line, keep your personal life private. What you rant or rave about today may come back to impact you in ways you never imagined.