Personal Media: Facebook, MySpace, and Blogs

This post, like Jeff's, is a little different from what we have been writing about so far in this blog.

I got the idea while cruising Facebook the other day, where I realized that even though this medium is not focused on news or what we know about the world, sites like Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are still media, and they still have an impact on how people view other people. What a lot of people don't realize, especially those of our younger generation, is what sort of impact the things we post on the internet can have on us and our friends. We've all heard the stories about former students applying for jobs and having scandalous photos of their wild college days brought up in the interview, but most of us don't really think that could be someday be us. However, the reality is that what we post on sites like Facebook and MySpace can definitely come back to haunt us later in life. An article by abc news discusses this phenomenon, citing examples of young people who have been refused jobs or had their reputations damaged due to photos and comments posted on the internet.

I thought this was very interesting, because I'm sure we all know people who have posted drunken or indecent photos of themselves or their friends either on Facebook or MySpace, and yet many of them don't seem to realize just how damaging these photos could be to their future careers. We have to realize that these personal online "diaries," including blogs, can be seen by more than just our friends, and that what we post on them can later be used as a judgement of our character, work ethic, and integrity. In this way, the internet is being used as a form of personal media, and just because we are not on television reporting the news to the nation, we are still broadcasting our own personal message to anybody who has access to the web, and this can often make-or-break a potential employment opportunity, or worse, our reputations.

I just thought this would be a good topic to discuss now, as many college students our age are preparing for spring break within the next few weeks. And as we all know, spring break has become a classic example of wild partying, and now more than ever, students bring along their cameras to document all the fun. Just watch out where you post those photos, because you don't want to have the specter of your crazy college days haunting your future career goals.