I'm thinking to tell Taylor that when it comes time for college applications, delete her account and start over, focussing on school. There is nothing bad there, just teenage angst and drama. But really, start afresh. Don't bare your personal life.

In 2009, a poll was taken of 400+ college's admission's officers. Only 9% admit to using social networking to evaluate candidates and of those 9% only 33% state that it had a negative impact on their decisions. (Also, interestingly, of that 9%, 31% say that it had a positive impact, so keep posting about your volunteer work!).

So 12 students weren't admitted to a college because of stuff on social networking sites. The problem is not as dire as people think. At All.

Nevertheless, given that it's relatively easy to manage your online presence by not posting stupid shit, or setting privacy tighter, or using a psued, it seems really stupid not to.

(I know this because two weeks ago, my students did a synthesis essay/research piece on the use of social network stuff to make admission or hiring decisions).

ETA: Hee! I found the link of the source: [link]

I'm more freaked that so many applicants try to friend admissions people!

I think she's locking everything down. It's frustrating, because she's a Massachusetts General Hospital Bicentennial Scholar. One of 26 who gets a 5k scholarship for every year in the program, and it goes to students interested in health and science. It's a big honking deal. And she sounds like a fucking moron in her public life...on purpose. I don't need to read that this 16 year old just smoked a shitload of pot and needs to get laid. We've all blocked her from our walls. I want to support this girl. And I do. But she was raised by wolves.

That's good info, Kat.

I think it's depressing that I knew those stats off the top of my head. I read 82 essays on the subject in the course of a week (that's only two periods, fwiw). At least the AP class was writing about a Joyce Carol Oates excerpt and then a Jhupar Lahiri short story.

My student load this year is NUTS. I'm getting gun-in-mouth about it.

Chuck D is pissed. His tweets make me feel incredibly sad. And I was already incredibly sad.

I keep calling her my niece, she's my cousin. My older cousins do that to me, and it makes me bananas. I need to stop.

The thing is, it's my boss doing the hiring. Eventually, it will be me, more schooled in the social network thang, but also more jaded. And while I might be more forgiving of what I find than my current boss, eventually it will be their peers. And will they be so ready to write off the teenage postings?

Honestly, just start over with college. And then again at maybe 25. Or whenever you start worrying about employability.

...given that it's relatively easy to manage your online presence...it seems really stupid not to.

And yet so many don't.

I can't even persuade my 13-year old cousin or her parents to hide their dates of birth on FB. They nod and smile when I bring it up, but they don't do it.

I'm glad that all my crazy posting happened in poorly photocopied punk rock zines back in the day.