This document provides 10 tips for college students to succeed on social media. It advises students to carefully use privacy settings as they may not be fully secure. It suggests being selective about friends and followers on social media and using strong, unique passwords that are changed regularly. The document also recommends avoiding posting overly personal information, embarrassing photos, or culturally insensitive content. Students are advised not to negatively comment about their school, professors, or jobs on social media. The overall message is to be cautious about what is shared on social media to avoid potential consequences.

1. HOW TO SUCCED IN
SOCIAL MEDIA… FOR
COLLEGE STUDENTS
By Logan Boggs and Laura
Villwock

2. An Introduction
• As you probably know, social media
is a prevalent force in most
students lives.
• We communicate with our friends and
family, share our personal photos
and statuses, and cultivate our
online personalities through social
media.

3. An Introduction
• However, misusing social media can
have some dire consequences.
• People have been passed up for job
interviews or let go from their jobs
due to social media faux pas. Others
have even been arrested!
• Read on to learn how to avoid
unflattering social media mistakes…

4. Tip 1: Use, but don’t
rely on, privacy
settings

5. Because even if you’re private...
• Privacy settings are an
incredibly useful, vital
resource for social media
users.
• However, they may not be a
secure as they seem.

6. …you don’t have “privacy.”
• Privacy settings change frequently.
• If they’re not updated, you and your
information (including your physical
location) may be at risk.
• It is a good idea to check your
privacy settings at least monthly to
make sure that they’re up to snuff.

7. Incase you haven’t noticed...
• Facebook has introduced a new
feature called “Nearby
Friends.”
• It tells your Facebook friends
who’s nearby using location
information transmitted by
their smart phones.

8. Mine just so happened to be automatically enabled, even though I
didn’t opt in...

9. • The scariest thing
is, that if I
wouldn’t have
gotten the
creepiest
notification ever,
I never would have
known, and every
one of my friends
could see my
location. On a
map. With
directions on how
Here’s an example of
what it looked like.
Via techcrunch.com.

10. Tip 2: BE
SELECTIVE
ABOUT WHO
YOU ACCEPT
OR FOLLOW

11. It’s all about who you know...
• Unfortunately, people associate
you with who you associate
with, both in real life and on
social media.
• It’s common knowledge that
prospective employers screen
applicant’s social media
profiles before making
interview and hiring decisions.

12. • So, if you’re looking to break
into the job market as a young
professional, you might want to
think before following
@bigbootydaily or
@drunkcatladies.
Yes, these are real profiles..
Yes, I now follow @drunkcatladies.

13. Tip 3: use a
strong password
and update it
frequently

14. Because nothing sucks more
than identity theft
• Think about all of the personal
information on your Facebook
profile.
–Your email address.
–Your phone number.
–Your friend’s phone numbers.
–Your geographic location (!)

15. •What if this information got
into the wrong hands, all because
you chose FirstName1 as your
Facebook password?
•Not to mention, people commonly
use the same password for several
online accounts (banking
perhaps?)

16. • Don’t give crooks access to
your private information just
because you’re too lazy to
create a challenging password
and change it often.
trustno1
...probably not the best bet.

17. TIP 4: do not post
overly personal or
emotional
statuses/tweets

18. We all have “that friend”
• There’s no quicker way to lose
friends or followers than to
post overly-personal, 140
character emotional bombs to
your social networks daily.
• Unfortunately, some people do
just that.

19. • There’s no reason that the
internet needs to know that
you’re fighting with your
significant other or that you
hate your job.
• Only post things on a need to
know basis. Save the passive
aggressive stuff for a close
friend or family member– not
the internet.

20. Also, don’t do things like this...
Because you will be shamed by the entire internet.
Via BuzzFeed.

21. Tip 5: don’t post
incriminating picture
to your profiles

22. This should be common
sense...
• But you would be surprised about how many
social media users regularly post embarrassing
or incriminating photos on their profiles.
• These pictures have led to them getting
passed up for jobs, suspended, and even
arrested.

24. Would you hire those
people? Probably not.

25. Tip 6: be mindful
of tagging friends

26. Don’t incriminate your friends
• Before you go to upload a photo to
Facebook you should always ask if it
paints you, or your friends, in a good light.
• If not, you should probably refrain from
posting it.

27. Let them incriminate themselves
• Before posting an embarrassing
photo or video of a friend, ask
them for permission.
• After all, sally might be
looking for a job, and it might
be kind of hard to explain that
keg stand she did last weekend
to her prospective employer.

28. Your friends will thank you

29. Tip 7: don’t post
anything
culturally
insensitive

30. Use your brain
• It’s NEVER a good idea to post
anything hateful on social
networking.
• Whether you generate the
content or share/retweet it, it
makes you look like an awful
individual.

31. Everyone is entitled to their
opinion...
• But not every opinion needs to
be broadcast across the
internet! Think before you
post!
• Innocent jokes can also be
misconstrued and cause loads of
unwanted trouble.

32. Probably not the best PR move...
Via funnie.st

33. TIP 8: monitor your
posts for negative
comments

34. Comments may cause
controversy...
• That you may not want directed
your way.
• Even if you post something
inherently harmless, sometimes
a friend’s off the wall
comments can escalate things to
a inappropriate or offensive
level.

35. • Check the comments on your
posts! Remember, you are who
you associate with in the eyes
of your employer or your
school.
• Don’t forget that it’s okay to
delete a comment made by
someone else if it makes you
uncomfortable– it’s your page!

36. Tip 9: don’t
speak negatively
about your
school or
professors

37. Don’t sh*t where you eat
• It would seem that the majority
of these tips SHOULD be common
sense. The sad thing is,
however, that people get in
trouble every day for
irresponsible use of social
media.

38. It’s okay to be frustrated...
• It’s okay and perfectly normal
to be frustrated with your
school or one of your
professors during at least one
point in your college career.
• Deal with your frustrations
through the appropriate
channels– don’t blast the
school or professor on social
media.

39. Tip 10: don’t
speak
negatively your
job

40. Work may suck...
• But you know what sucks more?
Getting fired over something
stupid you posted online.
• Before you mindlessly fire off
a tweet exclaiming how much you
hate your job or boss, stop to
think “what would happen if my
boss saw this?”

41. • It’s normal to be fed up with
your job. Everyone knows the
feeling well. But, keep the bad
mouthing among friends or
family– not on social media.

42. Or end up like this. Oops.
Via Funnie.st.