Use social networks to build your future career, not bring down your reputation
?TOO MUCH INFORMATION!? THAT?S what we shout when cautioning friends against sharing much more than what we need and want to know about them.

We?ve all read our share of ?random? and ?innocent? posts, status messages and photos of contacts broadcasting thoughts and information best kept to themselves.

Many of us have this incredible urge to check on friends and acquaintances on Facebook, and to use the updates to guess a contact?s state of mind and being. There are people who wear their heart on their sleeve?or their status message.

If we can stalk our friends on Facebook or Tweeter, they can do it to you, too.

Just how much information about ourselves are we posting for everyone to see, read, retweet, and right click-Save As?

Internet marketing consultant and the man behind www.newmedia.com.ph Carlo Ople says that for the youth, ?[Social media] is their form of identity. The pictures that they post, it?s their way of checking their social value.?

Gone are the days when students built their campus reputation through classroom or canteen antics. All it takes these days is a click of the Publish button to look cool and happening.

Just snap yourself while clubbing, post in an album the next day, then wait for the comments. ?OMG. I don?t remember this happened! I was sooooo out of it!?

You like to party. We got it.

The new resumé

Social networking sites, however, are not the place to post incriminating pictures of your latest shenanigans, negative feelings and complaints. Being careless about what you post on Facebook could jeopardize your future career.

?Kids and the youth today don?t realize that whatever they post there gets tagged to their name. It?s their personal brand,? Ople says.

Whatever pessimistic, thoughtless post we publish on our Facebook walls is ?forever. What young people fail to realize is that the people that will have an influence on their lives in the next five to six years are all on Facebook?your friends, family, potential business partners and employers. Whatever they say reflects on them,? he says.

According to Ople, based on a recent survey, 30 percent of companies now use social media and Google for their screening process. He recounts the cautionary tale of a man who was intelligent and had good work ethic, but was using his Facebook page irresponsibly, posting dirty content, using an obscene profile photo and circulating scandals of personalities.

Though his attention was called by the company he worked for, he did not change his usage. When he applied for a position in a multinational company, he was not accepted. Despite his brilliant selling points on paper, his poor Facebook activity said everything the company needed to know about him.

?I think the challenge is to try to use social media and networking in a more positive way, in building one?s career and future,? Ople says.

He encourages the youth to start building their personal branding, or what other people would buy and remember about you, even as a student.

?If your brand seems destructive and negative, your chances of people hiring you within your network become more slim,? he says.

Ople says we are no longer in the ?resumé generation, where it?s all based on what?s written on your resumé. I think people who get good breaks and opportunities are people who have reputations that precede them.?

In the past, building a good and bankable reputation required more time and effort, such as meeting different people on a one-on-one basis and relying on word-of-mouth.

But the ?Internet changed communication, and so has building one?s reputation,? says Ople. ?It has becomes easier to build a good one?as long as you?re conscious and deliberate of what you put out.?

?The best thing about the Internet is that it allows you to shine the light on the good or best things about you. Because you?re in control. You can control Google?s first results of your name, but how many people are taking advantage of that?? adds Ople.

?Youth stand to gain the most [with the new form of communication], mostly because they are the most adept with technology. And technology changes really fast, so the challenge is for them to see it for more than what it is?more than just for posting pictures or talking to friends. It?s really trying to make the most out of it, which should benefit them and their future careers.?

Precautions

Ople advises never to publish one?s e-mail address, contact number and addresses, because there are programs that crawl the web for information, then store it in a database, resulting in spam. Anyone can also easily check where you live or call you, based on information you post online.

For women in particular, Ople says, ?You don?t have to put pictures of you on the beach wearing skimpy outfits on Facebook. I know it?s tempting, especially if you think you look good. The problem is you?re exposing yourself to a lot of bad elements because anybody can see those pictures. If you keep on posting a lot, then the reputation that you?re building isn?t that nice.?

Take care of your relationship and reputation with people who will have an influence on you, Ople says. Posting pictures of yourself looking wasted, and making rude and unfavorable comments about people, is risky. Once they?ve been posted, there essentially no turning back. Even if you apologize on Twitter.

De-stressing on Facebook may seem harmless, or just an innocent way of venting yourself. But Ople says it can also give others the wrong impression??that you can?t handle pressure. There are proper ways to cope with stress. You call them friends, family, God ? don?t just carelessly send out negativity to your contacts.?

Shining a light

The Internet, says Ople, allows users to ?shine a light on the best things about you.?

Many young entrepreneurs started making money through the Internet. Photographers and fashion design hopefuls often use their Facebook photo albums to publish their work, while those eyeing management positions can show which seminars they?ve attended.

Ople also encourages people to blog about their passions and topics related to their future careers, rather than maintaining a ?dear diary? kind of blog.

Lastly, he says, treat your presence online as a kind of resumé, to help people ?see the good side of you.?