What are the top 10 things all H.S. grads should know about social media?

[bosk1]

Just out of curiosity, either from personal experience, or whatever:  What do you guys think are the kinds of things people coming out of high school should know?  There are a lot of really obvious things, but its seems like a lot of young people either DON'T really know or just pretend not to know.  I'm giving a talk at a local high school later this week, and figured I'd get your thoughts.

Some things that I plan to cover are:
-There are sites out there that are specifically designed to help you develop a profesisonal network that can help you get a job, build a business, etc., like LinkedIn.
-Colleges, grad. schools, and future employers CAN and DO look you up on the Internet
-Once it's out there, it's out there, and you can never truly delete something once it goes out into the public domain.
-You never know who is looking.

Etc.  Any ideas?  They can either be expansions/discussions of items I have already listed, or other ideas. 

[Cool Chris]

-Colleges, grad. schools, potential romantic interests, and future employers CAN and DO look you up on the Internet

There is no such thing as true anonymity online.

Just because someone writes something online, it doesn't necessarily mean it is true. As with all things, always consider the source.

No one gives a crap what you had for lunch. Such minutiae does not warrant a facebook status update.

[theseoafs]

No one gives a crap what you had for lunch. Such minutiae does not warrant a facebook status update.

Disagree that this is a worthwhile topic for the talk.  Generally, I don't give a shit what anybody had for lunch, but the fact of the matter is that if a person's Facebook page consists only of lunch updates, they're doing much better for themselves when a prospective employer comes along.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Set up an email address with a well known email service, specifically for giving potential employers.  They're a lot less likely to take you seriously if your email address is "muffdyver69@aol.com" as opposed to "Joe.Collegegrad@gmail.com".

[TioJorge]

Highschool? By then they're already fully integrated with the internet and the world of desensitizing materials... But that's a whole other subject. I think that's a great start; to let them know that what you do on the internet is no longer anonymous. If someone wants to look you up, there's no hiding; not anymore. The internet itself is evolved enough now to where even a mediocre user can look up some pretty private information on someone, let alone someone who has resources and/or is informed enough to know how.

I would say that it's very important for them to know how very...intoxicating the internet can be, and how it can change you as a person in your life if you are sucked into it enough. It can potentially ruin your life in some circumstances if say, you are employed by a large company that will monitor your usage outside of work. There are many helpful aspects of the internet that one can take advantage of; and for every good thing, there's thousands of horrible things. It's all jokes and lies and deceits if you get deep enough into the larger 'community' of the internet. On the surface, it can be very helpful and informative, but that is a very, very thin surface... Tip of the iceberg.

And that, as they say, is that. I really think highschool is way too late. I see kids at the restaurant I work at every single day with an iPad, iPod and/or laptop that are browsing sites they shouldn't be browsing; and I mean actual children, 10 or younger. A decade ago, highschool would be a good place to start. Not anymore, by then they are what they are and they know what they know (THINK they know). The internet and technology itself is fully integrated into our newer generations upbringing now, there's no question about that.

[rumborak]

Set up an email address with a well known email service, specifically for giving potential employers.  They're a lot less likely to take you seriously if your email address is "muffdyver69@aol.com" as opposed to "Joe.Collegegrad@gmail.com".

 totally, especially when you apply at a company that deals with a lot of software. There's a hierarchy in people's heads regarding email providers.

[rumborak]

Also, an important lesson is that it's the idiots who shout the loudest and thus are the most prominent on the internet.

[Chino]

That the internet is a very dangerous and unforgiving place. Anything in your life can be captured and given to the entire world to see with or without your permission. Your entire life can come crashing down overnight. Case in point, Giovanna Plowman.

[robwebster]

-Colleges, grad. schools, and future employers CAN and DO look you up on the Internet
-Once it's out there, it's out there, and you can never truly delete something once it goes out into the public domain.
-You never know who is looking.

I think these are the kickers.

We're of, or at least cultivating, a generation that uses the internet as a playground. We're flippant, bolshy, opinionated, and we're carving it all into tablets of crystal and giving it to other people. Everyone's had stupid conversations in a pub, and everyone's said and done things that they might have regretted not hours later, not days later, not weeks later, but years later. We might have been certain at the time, but we learn, and we grow, and change, and we're never exactly the same person we were a few years ago. Etching those conversations into the world's biggest public info-source is a little barmy.

That's not to say "don't use the internet." Do, it's great. It's more... I think it's important to think carefully about anything and everything you say. Fine to be flippant, but avoid knee-jerks, or confrontation. Bad to have a fight at school, where all your mates can see it. Worse to have that fight on the internet, where everyone might be able to see it for the rest of time. If it went viral - and look at websites like "failbook," these things do go viral - you might only ever be remembered as "the girl who made the bad taste holocaust joke," or "the guy who sent an intimate message to the wrong person."

[bosk1]

Rob, that is an awesome post.  Do you mind if I quote it?

[robwebster]

Go for it!

[TioJorge]

The fact you even asked shows what kind of person you are...

Which is obviously a good thing, I laugh because I can probably count the number of people like you on the internet on one hand. Rob would by on that hand.

internetception...wait...interception.

[bosk1]

Thanks, Rob.  Through the magic of the Internet, your now-forever-immortalized words were just read to an entire class of graduating high school seniors.

[Chino]

Thanks, Rob.  Through the magic of the Internet, your now-forever-immortalized words were just read to an entire class of graduating high school seniors.

Were they all on there phones the whole time? 

Just playing. How'd it go?

[bosk1]

I think it went pretty well.  I was one speaker out of a group that talked about a variety of topics, like interviewing skills, business etiquette, etc.  It was kind of a "the things H.S. grads really need to know that they don't teach you in H.S." kind of workshop. 

[robwebster]

Thanks, Rob.  Through the magic of the Internet, your now-forever-immortalized words were just read to an entire class of graduating high school seniors.

Hurrah! In many ways, I've been like a father to them. They grow up so fast. Did you do the accent? Please tell me you did the accent.

Sincerely - flattered you thought it was worth sharing, brilliantly mad that those words have gone so far. Hope it went down well!

[bosk1]

Thanks, Rob.  Through the magic of the Internet, your now-forever-immortalized words were just read to an entire class of graduating high school seniors.

Hurrah! In many ways, I've been like a father to them. They grow up so fast. Did you do the accent? Please tell me you did the accent.

Nah, I didn't think I could pull off the accent without butchering it.  But I did tell them you are British, and if they didn't know what "barmy" meant, don't worry about it because I don't either. 

But they now have your words printed on the PowerPoint handout that they each took home with them, so maybe one of them will look in a mirror and read it to themselves using the accent.

[robwebster]

You know? As I'll never know for sure either way, I'm going to imagine they're all doing it right now.

This must be how giants feel.

[Ħ]

The next Bill Gates will have rob's quote framed in his mansion someday.

[bosk1]

Given how I attributed the quote, I'm sure it will drive future anthopologists crazy trying to figure out just who this enigmatic "Sabred0g" fellow was.

EDIT:  And, Rob:  In the future, giants will say, "This must be how robwebster feels."