I have googled myself before, but the last time I remember doing it was probably in middle school. During that time in my life, pre social media, the only articles or pictures that came up were my school website, or the picture of myself receiving the penmanship award that appeared in the paper. Now when I google myself, the first thing that comes up is my facebook page. I personally do not post pictures on facebook. I did not post in middle school and I do not post now, so I am not worried about any embarrassing posts from my past. However, my friends post on facebook and tag me in pictures all of the time. These articles made me more aware of the photos that I am tagged in online. I then went through and deleted some of the pictures I am tagged in that might come of as inappropriate, or embarrassing. My instagram page also came up, but my account setting are private, so the only pictures that I came across when I googled my instagram were pictures from my friends whose accounts are public. This made me realize how important the privacy settings are on different social media accounts. A lot of the accounts that I don’t use that often are also private, so they were difficult to find in the google search as well.

I think it is very important to audit your social media every once in a while. Sometimes we forget that our online brand isn’t all about updating  our followers on partying or how much fun we are having in college, it’s about making a name for yourself in the online community and the work force.