In this day and age, social media is the go-to. It is the method that most people use to stay connected with people all over the world. What a great concept? You never have to meet for coffee or actually meet face to face in order to keep up with people. You can find almost anything about anyone with a few punches on the keyboard or swipes on a phone.
Back in the day, there was real effort in finding things out about people. Business would actually call your references to hear about you and they only had your resume to judge your character. You would actually have to call your grandma to keep her updated, and email your friends about how your summer is going.
Social media is great. It is an outlet for people of all ages and a place to post pictures and comments about how your life is going.
The difficult part is that it is just as easy for people to stalk you as you stalk them. Businesses will Facebook and Instagram stalk you like you have done to famous pop stars or your ex boyfriends new girlfriend. We all have done it. We scroll through their pictures, analyzing everything. You learn a whole lot. Especially when you go back to 2010 and hear about how much they loved their pizza for lunch or see the duck face-peace sign-sunglasses-side bang pictures. We eat it up.
The people who look at your pages might not eat it up.
Posts on social media create a type of personal brand for yourself. Think of it like any other brand. When you think of Nike, you might say “Just Do It” and picture some empowering Olympics commercial. But when you think of Brittany Spears, you think of a drugged out old popstar that shaved her head.
What you do follows you. As does what you post. It will define you.
What do you want people to associate with you when they hear your name? Do you want them to think of that smart girl from their Biology class that loved hiking and had the greatest dog? Or would you rather be known for the girl who can do a long keg stand, has a side boob tattoo, and appeared on Total Frat Move?
For the time being, you may be happy with your hobbies. You don’t mind posting pictures with bottles of alcohol behind you, or racy pictures in your underwear. But things may change. You might regret posting that picture of you doing beer bong or flashing your butt to the camera.
Picking fights on Facebook or Twitter and saying demeaning things can come back to haunt you. Someone may have caught you in a bad moment, but it is there forever regardless of if you delete it or not.
Believe it or not, businesses look deep into your various pages. If something they see does not align with their values--you're gone. They won't even take a second look.
Your personal brand speaks directly to your character. The way you portray yourself to the world is indicative of what is important to you.
Social media has become a lot more than connecting with your friends. You are selling yourself. You are promoting yourself to potential businesses, mentors, clients, old friends, family etc.
Ask yourself: What do you want THEM to see? Is it worth it?
Pro-Tip: If you are trying to clean up your Twitter, you can type in the search bar “from:(Your Twitter Handle)(Space)(The word you are looking for)”
So, try typing in the profanities you may have thought were a good idea as a sophomore in high school and remove those tweets ASAP Rocky.
