How to Use Social Media – Sound Advice from President Obama on Facebook!

2 years ago by Trace Cohen 7

barack-obama1

Yesterday President Obama was in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia giving a speech to the Wakefield High School students. After the conclusion of his speech, one ambitious 9th grader asked him “How he could become President one day,” saying that “when you’re young, you know, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff.” Coming from someone so young in the eyes of the job world, it is truly inspiring that they want to know what it takes at such a young age; easily a symptom of the Information Age.

Now in response to the student President Obama gave some very sound advice that everyone has heard before.

“I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life,” Obama said. “That’s number one.”

While he may sound like a broken record, coming from such a high authority – The President of The United States of America – being broadcast nationally, it will have a HUGE impact on the next generation of students.  He later remarked in a private question-and-answer session that he has heard stories about Facebook postings hindering job applicants, saying:

“I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who, you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job.”

It is truly amazing to have a President that is finally in touch with the problems that face our soon to be young professionals. Research conducted recently shows that nearly half of companies now screen social media profiles in the hiring process based on content they find like provocative photos, alcohol, or bad-mouthing of former employers being frequently cited as a reason for not considering candidates.

With over 250million and counting users on Facebook, it is becoming a bigger and bigger concern about what you post online. Anything you put online is permanent and can be found. This can be said about any other service as well, so as the President said, be careful about what you post!

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About Trace Cohen

I am currently a senior at Syracuse University double majoring in Entrepreneurship and Marketing at the Whitman School of Management with a minor in Information Service Techology (IST) in the iSchool. I chose Syracuse for their business school which was brand new and state of the art when i applied and enrolled. The undergraduate entrepreneurship program in Whitman is ranked #2 nationally and the ischool is ranked #1 nationally which is something I am very proud to be apart of.
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  • http://youbrandinc.com brian fanslau

    I agree as the the age where it is no longer an elephant but rather Google that never forgets where we have been and said online and it is as simple as Googling each others names to see our background. Pretty crazy

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  • http://blog.brand-yourself.com Trace Cohen

    It is really crazy. Google knows all and with a simple search you can too! You really need to protect and maintain your online reputation. This doesn't mean that you can't have fun and share it with your friends, it just means that you need to be thoughtful of what you post.

  • executiveresumewriter

    Great post! So true. People are getting in trouble left and right by what they are saying on line. Yikes! from Facebook to Twitter to all of the other social networks out there, it's important to be careful!

    Nice post. And you are right. It's nice to FINALLY have a President who is in touch with what is going on in the technology age. :)

    Erin Kennedy
    Professional Resume Services

  • http://blog.brand-yourself.com Trace Cohen

    It does take a lot of effort to make sure that your social presence is clean and consistent but well worth it. And thank you for agreeing with me that it is truly a relief that our President actually knows what's going on.

  • Dzidula

    Yea. I totally agree with the president. All sorts of vulgar and immoral items are being posted on FB. I beleive it's what we can liken to juvenile deliquency. Our young ones need to be educated on certain issues and change their orientations to them. Great job!!!

  • Dzidula

    Yea. I totally agree with the president. All sorts of vulgar and immoral items are being posted on FB. I beleive it's what we can liken to juvenile deliquency. Our young ones need to be educated on certain issues and change their orientations to them. Great job!!!