New Year, New Social Media
By: +Kate Schlarf
Welcome back to campus UELA members. The New Year is a great time full opportunities to take chances and try out new leadership positions. It is also a great time to take a look at your online presence and make. So here are some tips for cleaning up your presence.
1. Have you changed your passwords lately?
Public computers are a great place to log on and accidentally stay logged on. Don't let randoms change your status or pick up your password around campus. Especially be sure you are using varied passwords across all platforms. Don't let one public computer slip turn into someone knowing your password to everything. So be safe, differentiate, and change passwords every few months.
2. Clean House
Would you show the weekend out photos to your grandma? If the answer is no then it probably shouldn't be up there. Despite ever changing privacy settings there are still many ways for potential employers to look up your photos, posts, and other internet activity. Obviously there are different standards to consider for different platforms (clearly LinkedIn will be more professional than Facebook) but in general the 'would you show grandma?' rule works across the board. Be sure to take a few moments to scroll through past activity too.
3. Get a Second Opinion
Does this picture look professional? Is this post pushing it too far? Sometimes questions like these are best answered by an outside source. Let a friend browse your social media and ask them what they think. Would they show their grandma? Friends are also great sources of input for choosing your best professional profile picture and for writing an eye catching about me section.
Does this picture look professional? Is this post pushing it too far? Sometimes questions like these are best answered by an outside source. Let a friend browse your social media and ask them what they think. Would they show their grandma? Friends are also great sources of input for choosing your best professional profile picture and for writing an eye catching about me section.
4. Schedule a Review
Set up a time in the future to check your online presence again. The frequency at which you should do clean ups will depend upon the platforms you're using and how often you are posting. Set a weekly or monthly reminder in your phone or planner, and then hold yourself to it! The more you stay on track the less time a quick check will take.
In case you didn't know UE has gotten into social media in big ways. For campus leadership and community service ideas you can follow the Center for Student Engagement on Pinterest. You can also follow the University of Evansville on Twitter as well as LinkedIn.
