Social Media Mistakes in College

Social media is more than something to simply spend your time on and often people make Social Media mistakes in College.

They are a powerful tool that could help you build a personal brand, find a dream job, and so on.

Social media is more than something to simply spend your time on and often people make Social Media mistakes in College.

 

Why learning how to work with your social media profile is important

While students rarely think about it when creating their social media profiles and updating them, it could affect their lives more than they think at first.

Here’s why investing time and efforts into building your social media account is important:

  1. Because of the privacy. While many students find it comfortable to share all the personal information online, some still wouldn’t like everyone to see it. Incorrectly set privacy settings, however, could make it easy for people to access your private posts without you knowing it.
  2. Because of the job/internship/mentoring search. Many recruiters, volunteer organizations, and potential mentors do research the person they intend to collaborate with. You need to understand what your profile would say to them and do your best to adjust it so it would look appealing to them.
  3. Because of the reputation. Internet remembers everything. If you do intend to build an impressive career, you could start right now, tailoring your social media profile to your goals.

While the process of tailoring your profile and presenting it the right way might take more time and research than you thought, there’s a thing you can do for it right now.

Start to learn what are the most common social media mistakes in College and eliminate them.

Social media is more than something to simply spend your time on and often people make Social Media mistakes in College.

Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/DfMMzzi3rmg

Social Media Mistakes in College to avoid

Not paying enough attention to the security settings

Just like we’ve already mentioned above, the security settings matter to anyone who doesn’t want their private information to be seen by anyone.

They could be a good tool to help your profile look professional while still sharing some personal data with your friends.

However, be careful here.

Double check the settings to ensure that your posts aren’t seen by everyone.

Keep in mind that even if the settings are okay, some of your posts could still be seen: for example, when people use «Photos of» search feature.

Posting something embarrassing

While the definition of «embarrassing» is highly unclear, always keep in mind that your social media profiles should look appropriate.

If you wouldn’t show a certain thing to your potential employee or colleague, then don’t post it – or set the right settings at least.

These days your social media profile could be just as important as a portfolio, so be careful here.

If you want to post some information that might be considered inappropriate by the recruiters, create a profile that cannot be tied to you and post it there.

But don’t delete the existing social media accounts yet.

 

Social media is more than something to simply spend your time on and often people make Social Media mistakes in College.

Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/FaPxZ88yZrw

Not posting at all

When it comes to recruiting, the lack of information about a candidate might look just as suspicious as the inappropriate information.

Even if your profile is set to private, the interviewers might still want to take a look at it – and get disappointed if you reject them.

That’s why the safest thing you can do is to keep your profile (or a part of it that’s visible) as open and professional-looking as you can.

You can and need to share some interests, opinions, etc. – just be sure to pick them carefully.

Remember: you need to look like a well-rounded person, who has different skills and interests.

Find a way to demonstrate them with the help of your profile: for example, by sharing your food photos, writing posts about your passions, and so on.

Being openly negative about your college and/or previous job

Even when your college or your job position is awful, you shouldn’t write about that openly.

First, it ruins your own reputation, portraying you as a person, who doesn’t have respect for their professors or employer.

Second, it affects the reputation of a company or an institution you’re complaining about.

Always keep in mind the following: all companies care about their reputation – and this reputation could be easily destroyed online these days.

When they see you openly complaining about something, they might think you’re going to complain about your position at their company as well.

Doesn’t seem like a reason to hire you, doesn’t it?

 

Social Media Mistakes in College

Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/XkKCui44iM0

 

Using poor grammar

This is one of the most common mistakes students make.

Sure, being informal on social media might seem like the most natural thing to do.

But only if you don’t plan to make an impression with the help of your social media in the future.

These platforms do serve as the first introduction to many of your potential employers.

In fact many recruiters do pay a lot of attention to candidate’s grammar.

That’s why always try writing well when it comes to your public posts.

You still can be as informal as you like in your private messages, of course.

Summary

Summing this up, we can surely say that these days social media are more than just places to interact with your friends.

They had become an important part of one’s personal branding.

This makes it easier for recruiters, volunteer organizations and companies to see students as real people.

That’s why, like it or not, you need to invest some time into building your social media profile.

Or, at least, in making it look more appropriate and appealing to everyone online.

If you find this challenge too complex or overwhelming, switch all but one profiles to private and focus on it.

We recommend starting with Facebook as it is indeed considered the biggest social media online.

Create a LinkedIn account at the same time and to invest some time and efforts into building it.

Do you agree that social media nowadays play a bigger role in our lives than they did before?

Which mistakes did you make when using your social media and which lessons did you learn from it?

Please share your thoughts and stories in the comments below.

 

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