| Facebook Fall-out By: Katie Guthrie Remember that time you threw a party when your parents were out? They do, since your friends’ photos just popped on their news feed. From teenagers to adults, Biden to Bono, governors to police officers, everyone has had his or her own ‘oops!’ moment on social networking sites such as Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site that allows users to join groups, add friends, and personalize their pages. Members can update statuses or post and view pictures. But these features can get you into trouble. Everyone makes mistakes, but social networking sites make them instantly part of the public domain. The saying goes, “Never put anything online that you wouldn’t want on the front page of The New York Times.” Well, August Ritter III, son of current Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, didn’ t take that into account when pictures from his 22nd birthday party at the governor’s mansion surfaced in 2008. The images captured August holding the Colorado flag with a young girl draped around him, serving friends directly from a keg, and goofing off around historical artifacts of the state. The invitation he sent out via Facebook promised a good night: “Mama Ritter has two rules for parties that I have at the Mansion: 1. No throwing up. 2. No sexy time.” The governor promised he or his wife has always been present at parties and everyone was of legal drinking age; however, his son still issued a formal apology. Earlier that year, Bob Schaffer, Ritter’s rival in the gubernatorial race, found out his son’s Facebook page was causing trouble. 19 year-old Justin had bumper stickers, messages and pictures that friends send to one another or choose themselves, containing captions including “slavery gets shit done” and “So America, you want change? Just wait” picturing a bearded and turbaned Obama. Justin later apologized. “It is clear that my actions were juvenile, disrespectful, and a mistake on my part.” While teenagers can be “juvenile” or “disrespectful,” college admissions officers have taken note of applicants’ Facebooks. Williams College does not have an official policy on applicants’ Facebooks, but “students who are applicants should be aware that anything they put out online is out there for all to see. They just need to be very cautious about what they post,” said the College’s Director of Admission Dick Nesbitt. While the admissions panel doesn’t look at it regularly, said Nesbitt, they will take a close look if something is brought to their attention. “We’ve actually withdrawn an offer of admission because of egregious posting,” he added. So how to avoid a school withdrawing an offer of admission? To keep pictures of you streaking through the quad or wall posts from crude friends damaging your college chances, here are a few tips on Facebook’s new privacy policy. The privacy policy, which has been hotly contested, claims to simplify privacy controls. You can manage who views your photos, contact information, status updates, and specific photo albums. The privacy announcement states this, but adds they’re helping everyone stay connected by “keeping some information – like your name and profile picture publicly available.” This condition is difficult to work around, but Facebook allows you to change your display name as often as you want, and allows you to change your user name, what Facebook saves you under in its files, once. Many college counseling offices recommend students change display names when applying to college. You should never list your address, phone number, email, or even dorm room number. Even posting your birthday can become a tool for identity thieves. But the scariest part; Facebook now makes your current city, name, profile picture, gender, networks, friends, and any pages you are a fan of, publicly available to anyone on the Internet. The justification? This makes it much easier to find people and connect. But if it makes you uneasy, all you can do for now is scream, kick, and delete stuff. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
