There is no doubt that social media has taken over the scene. Celebrities tweet on a regular basis, and celebrity blog sites keep readers updated on all of that Twitter activity. But Hollywood is not the only elite group to dig into social media. College students are another big part of popular social media sites like Facebook and Myspace. Students use these sites to stay connected with old friends and new ones, and nothing is "official" until it is "Facebook official" – that is, posted on Facebook for the world to see. But all of this rampant use of social media can have its drawbacks. One of the biggest drawbacks is that now Facebook users are having their profile pages analyzed – by potential employers.

Your resume only says so much about you. You can list all of your achievements on there and your experience and prior work history, but in the end, the employer still will not know anything about your personality. To get a gauge of whether or not you would be a good fit for the company, many hiring managers are now turning to Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to find out more about applicants. Unfortunately, not too many users of such social media sites are aware of this, leading them to put up one too many scandalous photographs of drunken nights out and one too many profanity-laced status updates.

All a potential employer needs is to see one photograph of you red-faced and in a compromising position to decide that you are not cut out for the job. One ill-written tweet could also cost you a job interview. Yet, it is not only those seeking employment who could be affected by illicit social media use. Those who are already employed or in school could also get in trouble for their profile pages. In 2006, student-teacher Stacy Snyder was refused a teaching certificate after a photograph of her labeled "drunken pirate" was discovered on her Myspace page. Her school, Millersville University, denied Snyder her teaching certificate because it felt that the photograph proved that Snyder was not fit to teach due to her inappropriate behavior. All of this came about despite the fact that the photograph was snapped on an off-campus event. It goes to show, however, that posting compromising photos of yourself is never a good route to take. You never know who besides your friends and classmates could be looking.