Saving Facebook

Earlier this month, Barnard held a career fair that was flooded with employers and students, and on Friday, Columbia is holding a career fair of its own. Seniors and conscientious underclassmen will be navigating booths and creating first impressions, shuffling resumes into the hands of potential bosses and doing whatever they can to get that follow-up phone call. As a generation growing up with computers practically in our cribs, we now have to use social networking sites and Internet history to our advantage in the frenzied job search, tailoring ourselves to resemble whatever is most attractive in our industries. These sites, which were once primarily social, are now a set of personal marketing tools. But at what cost?

With social networking sites evolving into such complex mechanisms for self-promotion, we’ve in many ways gotten the idea that we are commodities, and we corner our identities into a particular brand as we hand-select what interests, favorite movies, and photos appear next to our name on social networking sites. The question of privacy comes into play—we want to be authentic and open with our closer friends online, but we have to be careful about what potential employers, overprotective family members, and the general public all see when they look at our profiles. Some users don’t want to have their lives on display for the world, and they employ strict privacy settings or forego these sites altogether. Others make one false move online and suffer the consequences by being fired or overlooked for a job. Personal branding carries weight, and our posts on Facebook can have grave or desirable results depending on what we say and who’s watching. While social networking sites may have their benefits through connecting us with the right people and conveying a positive self-image, we have to be ever more careful about the way we digitally present ourselves.

Gone are the days when Facebook or Twitter was simply a fun way to keep in touch with acquaintances. Just as we market ourselves to employers and friends, we are also the objects of others’ solicitations, often corporate ones. In order to maximize profits through targeting advertisements to users, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, and Google keep records of what sites we visit, what we write in emails, and what our personal interests are. Meanwhile, our privacy becomes more and more precious, as these companies sell our information to increase their revenue. While we like to assume that the Internet is conveniently all for our benefit, think again—more than 96 percent of the $29 billion Google earned last year came from advertising. In other words, one man’s privacy is another’s paycheck.

It’s time to pause and ponder a little more how we spend our cyber-time. One obvious action if we want to be taken seriously as a candidate in the job market is to think twice before posting the pictures from last night’s party or that status you would be embarrassed for your employer to read. Taking another step back, consider how you are using networking sites and whether they are fulfilling the purpose that you want them to. Ask yourself if you mind having someone profit from your every click. The Internet is changing, and you don’t want to be caught in virtual, ignorant bliss.