Students aren’t the only ones on facebook

by Abbie Crane

Web sites like MySpace and Facebook have been the buzz in the media lately, but for more than the usual reasons of identity theft and sexual predators.

Potential employers, faculty, administrators and the police all have access to online profiles.

Director of Housing Mandy Fox has her own Facebook profile. She said she’s always been a part of the online community at all of the schools she’s worked for and attended. Fox said she’s never used Facebook to screen job applicants when they were applying for Residence Life positions.

Some students don’t feel it’s necessary to change their sites simply because a person in a higher position could view it. When asked how much she changed her profile, freshman Emily Kacere said she hasn’t changed it much.

“Not too much, I’ve just changed the security settings so that only my friends can see my profile,” Kacere said. “By doing that I don’t have to worry about it because I know who is looking at it.”

Sophomore Nicole Cleveringa said she has changed things on her Facebook profile. She has changed some of the pictures visible on her profile.

Kacere said that she hopes people wouldn’t judge her simply by her Facebook profile.

“I would hope they wouldn’t judge me by what they see on a Web site before they actually get to meet me,” Kacere said. “But then again, if someone is going to put something on Facebook that will cause others to think so negatively of them, it is the person who puts in on the Web site’s fault.”

Cleveringa said people need to be more cautious and realize it’s not just your friends looking at your profile anymore.

“You should always be cautious about how you’re portrayed to people you don’t know,” Cleveringa said.

There’s been controversy about whether or not students should be punished for pictures of them doing illegal things.

Fox said she believes students should be punished.

“Whether online or not, everyone should be responsible for their actions, activities and words,” Fox said.

Cleveringa agrees people should be punished.

“If people are stupid enough to put a picture of them doing illegal things on they should be punished,” Cleveringa said.

Cleveringa is also on MySpace and again encourages people to be careful about how they are portrayed on the Internet.

Fox said she occasionally browses similar sites such as MySpace, but she benefits from doing so.

“The benefit I get from using tools like these are typically personal and rarely work related,” Fox said.

However, she believes students need to use Facebook wisely.

“It’s a valuable tool, people just need to use it responsibly,” Fox said. “My only true concern is that people share too much personal information about themselves through all kinds of online venues.”