OK, so I finally took a friend's advice and signed up for some online networking sites. You can now find me on LinkedIn and Facebook. Yes, yes, I know. “You’re just getting around to that?” you’re asking. Well, you know that person who sees a movie on DVD a year after it came out and then tries to tell friends who saw it in the theater how great it was? That’s me so please forgive me if this post sounds passé. With that said, Facebook is great. Case in point: I was looking for a new magazine intern recently and was able to contact my Facebook friends for potential candidates. Several students turned up as a result. I hope to use it more like this in the future, but I'm still worried about how much of our lives should be readily accessible online.
I routinely check the Facebook and MySpace pages of potential interns. Why not? If you put the information out there, why shouldn't I or other potential employers read it? NOTE: if you're interested in working for me, make sure your Facebook and MySpace pages are set to private. If I see a picture of you peeing on the sidewalk or read that your favorite hobby is smoking weed, I will naturally be less inclined to hire you. Why? Because your online presence is just as important as your actual physical presence and both of those can be called into question when you're representing my publication. I know it's just the times in which we live that make us so willing to share our innermost thoughts with strangers halfway around the world, but is that a good thing?
Aiesha D. Little
NABJ Adviser
University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists
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