Opinion

Not so private: In the era of social media, your life is an open book

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Your social media self projects much more than you may realize.

In fact, that promiscuous bikini shot from your spring break spent in Florida or that anger-ridden status update about how unfair your professor is really isn’t that private at all.

The Threefold Advocate argues there is no such thing as privacy when it comes to the Internet, especially social media.

Every time you post a status update, photo or comment without thinking, you risk the chance of an unintended audience viewing something you may not have wanted.

According to Facebook’s privacy policy, choosing to make your information public means that your content can be associated with you even off the site and can be seen when someone looks for you using a search engine.

Also, your comments on your friend’s posts aren’t so private either. When you are not able to select an audience while posting on Facebook, it is because some types of posts are always public.

You may not realize just how much Facebook obtains from you.

The social media front-runner passess on a lot of your information to advertisers and the developers that build games and applications you use daily. That is why the Christianmingle.com and UrbanOutfitters ads have popped up on your sidebar lately.

The people behind the social media site aren’t the only ones obtaining public information about you, your future employers are too.

According to a recent study by Reppler, a company that works to clean up your online image, stated 91 percent of employers are using social media to screen applicants.

While you may attempt to cover up your tracks through privacy settings, many employers are finding ways around privacy blocks.

In another study, 69 percent of future employers also said they rejected a candidate based on what they found through social media.

Though Facebook may seem like a safe place to share what’s on your mind, remember there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet.

Think before you post and start scrubbing your social media empire clean from all questionable material.

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