The most interesting aspect of these articles was the recommendation to Google your name and see what comes up. First, I googled just my first and last name and nothing that was actually related to me showed up; just an actress named Logan White and some athletes that also had my name. So, I decided to Google my social media user name and was surprised to see a lot of random photos pop up. Only one was from my personal social media, and the rest were photos from some of my friends (most of which I wasn’t even tagged in). These pictures ranged from my little sister’s volleyball picture to photos from my high school newspaper staff. This really opened my eyes to how even your friend’s social media accounts can affect your presence online.

These articles also made me realize how important it is to have the same, or similar, user names for your social media accounts so you can be easily found online, either by your peers or by potential employers. I also need to create a Google+ and a LinkedIn account to increase networking and employer contacts. I need to make better use of social media as a way to make business connections.

Overall, I’ve always been pretty careful with what I post online. I don’t think there is a pressing need to delete anything, but this may be because I didn’t have any forms of social media when I was younger. So, thankfully I don’t have any old, embarrassing Facebook photos or statuses that I could have forgotten about. Because I got started with social media at a relatively older age, maybe around sophomore year of high school, I have been somewhat mindful of what I post.

These articles emphasized how important it is to regulate the image you portray online and how easy it is for others to find what you post. I will continue to be careful with social media and use it in a way that I won’t have to regret later on.