Be Careful With What You Post Online

Today, your professors, your friends, and your future employers have access to anything about you online. Whether it’s your Facebook profile, your MySpace page, or a LiveJournal site, chances are someone you know knows about it — and that can be dangerous.

Take the picture above, for example. This is a picture of a 25-year-old woman, a mother of two named Stacy Snyder. This photo of hers was taken at a holiday party. She was fired from a student teaching program for being a “drunken pirate,” according to the New York Times. But who is to know what was really in that plastic cup? Who is to know if she’s really drinking alcohol?

Unfortunately, if it looks like a duck and smells like a duck, it’s probably a duck — even if it isn’t. Online, if it’s obvious that you’re somewhat responsible and put yourself to appear less professional, you’re guilty before being proven innocent on the Internet — and you can lose your job on your own time. Therefore, it’s really of utmost importance to be careful about what you post on the Internet, to your Facebook pages, and whatever else, because you never know if someone will turn on you and share those photos somewhere else.

Regardless of whether Stacy Snyder was innocent or guilty, one thing is absolutely clear: the image of professionalism is an important one to convey on any online persona, so be careful when partying and don’t publish your photographs where you don’t want others to see them.

Oh, and by the way, don’t pull any pranks like this bank intern did. (That job termination was deserved, though.)

[via Podcasting News]