Big Brother Is Always Watching

Your brother has posted yet another amusing story about his precocious child.  Your mother is ranting about her latest health crisis, and your friends can’t stop posting embarrassing pictures from their latest party.  You share, comment, retweet, and pin just like a pro.  Maybe you even post a few things to your Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. accounts.  You just can’t get enough of social media, and why not, yolo! (You only live once) Your profiles on social media say a lot about you.  Everything from what interests you, to what friends you have, to whether you use capital letters or text speak can make a difference in how you are viewed.  You think you and your collective of “friends” will get a laugh and will be the only people who look at it anyway.  Or so you think.

In this day and age, your friends may not be the only people looking at your profiles.   Oh sure, you have protected yourself from all the unsavory people out there who could be looking in, but what about the less unsavory.  Who is looking at your profiles and why?  You might be truly surprised.  Students applying to college need to realize that checking social media of applicants is standard practice these days and can sometimes hurt someone’s chances of gaining admission.  Many have heard that employers are now cracking down on employees’ social media but did you know that they also routinely check it when someone is applying for a job.  What about if you are applying for a mortgage?  Yes, banks too are looking at your social media pages to make determinations about your credit worthiness.  So, before you tweet, share, comment, etc., make sure you remember, Big Brother is always watching.