A popular british newspaper today published an article claiming that the postings on social media sites by students is making them unemployable. Why you may ask. Well the reason is that the tales of bed hopping that would make Samantha from Sex and the City blush and the photos of nights out are making emplyers think twice about what lies beneath the impecable CV before them.
We live in the age of TMI. Happily we share the most intimate details of our lives with relative strangers and worse our friends tag us in those photos we would rather forget. One Facebook site, Swansea Uni Confessions, has been slammed by the university and its student union.
In a joint statement, registrar Raymond Ciborowski and Students' Union president Tom Upton said: "We are seriously concerned about the nature and content of these pages. The Union have stated "Irresponsible use of social media can damage their future employment prospects as companies are increasingly searching for information on job applicants." Undergraduates use the Facebook pages to post tales of what they get up to after moving away from home. Most of the confessions are anonymous – students email their stories to an unknown administrator who then posts it on the internet for everyone to see.
The statement added: "Students are sharing personal information, including explicit content, with an anonymous page administrator, who has no accountability. "As a result, participants' personal details could potentially be made publicly available for viewing by fellow students, staff, public, press, potential employers.
As if that wasnt scary enough your eeven risking your place at university, with Swansea stating "University regulations clearly state that it is a disciplinary offence to engage in behaviour which could bring the University into disrepute – this includes social media activity. The internet and social media are governed by laws relating to defamation and public order, and as a result, there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech."
Comment
The contents of the statements made by the University arent controversial. In the age of social media, students are fairly savvy with what they upload but with the best of intentions sometimes its easy to forget yourself and post something silly or get caught in a cringeworthy photo. It may seem funny but its serious. What if you get caught "trophying" an item and then the police come knocking at your door with photographic evidence that you have committed theft or vanadalism? Do you really want to potentially end up disclosing a criminal conviction on a job application? What will the investment bank think about the rugby club cow tipping event 2013? I dont think you really want to find out the answers to that questions when youre up against a string of equally qualified applicants.
As for your "gap-yah'. Please no photos of your escapades with the lashional front and no photos of where you chundered everywhar. I dont even care if half your face is covered by your lashmina. Delete it.
My Tips
1. Set your privacy settings accordingly. Dont know how to do it? http://www.socialmedialawsite.com/1/post/2013/01/new-years-resolutions-to-protect-your-privacy-online-5-top-tips.html and http://www.socialmedialawsite.com/tips-and-links.html
2. Think before you post.
3. De tag yourself from things you dont want to be associted with (or better still what do you think your parents would freak over? Delete that too)
4. Do not post confessions on websites. Your user IP can be found. Its never truly anonymous.
5. Had an argument with the other half? Do yourself a favour, give your best friend your phone. Nobody wants to read the Tweets they sent when drunk or read them a year later. There isnt a big enough duvet to crawl under and die of shame.
Think its all just scaremongering? Well when I was at Uni I remember vividly a very public row between a couple on Facebook where the guy was accused of being a lying cheat, everyone waded in on it. The couple broke up evertually, things moved on and months later he was chatting to a recruiter. The recruiter said straightout he woudnt employ the guy and cited the Facebook row as the reason why. The guy was utterly dumbfounded as to how the recruiter even knew about it. Turns out the recruiter graduated two years earlier but had been friends with both the people on Facebook and added them in freshers week. Guys, its not an urban myth. Think carefully when using Facebook.
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We live in the age of TMI. Happily we share the most intimate details of our lives with relative strangers and worse our friends tag us in those photos we would rather forget. One Facebook site, Swansea Uni Confessions, has been slammed by the university and its student union.
In a joint statement, registrar Raymond Ciborowski and Students' Union president Tom Upton said: "We are seriously concerned about the nature and content of these pages. The Union have stated "Irresponsible use of social media can damage their future employment prospects as companies are increasingly searching for information on job applicants." Undergraduates use the Facebook pages to post tales of what they get up to after moving away from home. Most of the confessions are anonymous – students email their stories to an unknown administrator who then posts it on the internet for everyone to see.
The statement added: "Students are sharing personal information, including explicit content, with an anonymous page administrator, who has no accountability. "As a result, participants' personal details could potentially be made publicly available for viewing by fellow students, staff, public, press, potential employers.
As if that wasnt scary enough your eeven risking your place at university, with Swansea stating "University regulations clearly state that it is a disciplinary offence to engage in behaviour which could bring the University into disrepute – this includes social media activity. The internet and social media are governed by laws relating to defamation and public order, and as a result, there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech."
Comment
The contents of the statements made by the University arent controversial. In the age of social media, students are fairly savvy with what they upload but with the best of intentions sometimes its easy to forget yourself and post something silly or get caught in a cringeworthy photo. It may seem funny but its serious. What if you get caught "trophying" an item and then the police come knocking at your door with photographic evidence that you have committed theft or vanadalism? Do you really want to potentially end up disclosing a criminal conviction on a job application? What will the investment bank think about the rugby club cow tipping event 2013? I dont think you really want to find out the answers to that questions when youre up against a string of equally qualified applicants.
As for your "gap-yah'. Please no photos of your escapades with the lashional front and no photos of where you chundered everywhar. I dont even care if half your face is covered by your lashmina. Delete it.
My Tips
1. Set your privacy settings accordingly. Dont know how to do it? http://www.socialmedialawsite.com/1/post/2013/01/new-years-resolutions-to-protect-your-privacy-online-5-top-tips.html and http://www.socialmedialawsite.com/tips-and-links.html
2. Think before you post.
3. De tag yourself from things you dont want to be associted with (or better still what do you think your parents would freak over? Delete that too)
4. Do not post confessions on websites. Your user IP can be found. Its never truly anonymous.
5. Had an argument with the other half? Do yourself a favour, give your best friend your phone. Nobody wants to read the Tweets they sent when drunk or read them a year later. There isnt a big enough duvet to crawl under and die of shame.
Think its all just scaremongering? Well when I was at Uni I remember vividly a very public row between a couple on Facebook where the guy was accused of being a lying cheat, everyone waded in on it. The couple broke up evertually, things moved on and months later he was chatting to a recruiter. The recruiter said straightout he woudnt employ the guy and cited the Facebook row as the reason why. The guy was utterly dumbfounded as to how the recruiter even knew about it. Turns out the recruiter graduated two years earlier but had been friends with both the people on Facebook and added them in freshers week. Guys, its not an urban myth. Think carefully when using Facebook.
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