It was about ten years ago that I first started getting the question during seminars, “Do colleges look at your (insert popular social media tool here)?” The question often came from parents who were smartly concerned about what their kids might choose to post online.
More recently, I’ve heard from students and some parents who take offense to the idea that a college would do such a thing. Some think that reading what an applicant posts online is unprofessional and even that it violates a student’s privacy. Debating whether or not those arguments have legs misses the larger point. Once you put something online (without appropriate privacy settings), you relinquish all control over who views it, how it colors their perception of you, and what they choose to do with that information. And it’s naïve to assume that anyone—colleges, potential employers, people you’re about to go on a first date with, etc.—would flatly refuse to google you out of respect for your privacy.
I have never met a college admissions officer who had the desire or time to read every applicant’s Twitter, Facebook or other online postings. But does it happen occasionally? Of course it does. Hacking into your private Twitter feed would be a violation. But reading your public tweets is just consuming what you chose to give the online world. To object to them reading it is like playing guitar on a crowded street corner and then taking offense when someone chooses to stop and listen.
If you share it, someone will read it, so it’s important to protect and even cultivate your online legacy. Share—or don’t share—accordingly.