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Facebook Photos Used to Sabotage College Applicants

by Kaiser Hwang on October 25, 2008 at 10:27 AM


The proliferation and acceptance of social-networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace (fine, Friendster, too...) for both business and personal use has its ups and downs. On the one hand, they make staying in contact with people around the world a breeze -- even if that means whittling down communication to pokes and nudges. They're also useful for recruiters, bands, and just about anything else you can think of that would benefit from a group of connected people.

On the other hand, putting up personal information on the Internet and making it easy for someone to Google your name can be dangerous, particularly if you've been posting photos and information that falls under the "TMI" category. Then again, people get arrested for all sorts of random reasons. The point is, the more of you that's out there on the Web, the more there is for everyone to use against you if they so please.

To wit: A report from the Chicago Tribune says that students are now sending letters to the colleges they're competing to get into that contain links to incriminating Facebook photos of their fellow peers (read: competition), with hopes that the evidence will lessen the person's chances of getting accepted, and raise theirs in the process. This new trend of "Facebook Sabotage" is actually more common than anyone expected, with a high school guidance counselor admitting that she received over a dozen replies after asking on a college admissions message board if anyone was receiving these types of letters.

While there are clearly ways to reduce the amount of data used against you (y'know, like not posting that drunk photo of yourself on Facebook), no one can deny that online exposure can also be beneficial in the right context. Our advice? Just use some common sense, people! [From: ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: admissions, college, facebook, linkedin, myspace, web

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