海角大神

are displaying serious online spin control skills in their college quests. It鈥檚 more like 鈥�public image management鈥� than the reputation management so often referred to in online-safety discussions. In an interview for聽, a high school teacher in Reno, Nev., called it 鈥渁dmissions jiu jitsu,鈥� referring to his students鈥� workarounds for college and university admissions offices鈥� growing scrutiny of students鈥� social media profiles.

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Though this is getting more and more parental and political attention, it isn鈥檛 new. I first wrote about the聽聽back in mid-2008, picking up on a paper by UK researcher and psychology professor Sonia Livingstone, who noticed that in many cases what鈥檚 seen in a profile is more a 鈥減laceholder鈥� in a string of interaction between members of a peer network than a self-portrait or act of self-disclosure. The ReadWriteWeb piece (or its source) suggests that profile embellishing is a kind of deception, as in gaming a system in which adults are 鈥渄igging for dirt鈥� in what students see as their personal lives. Deception could certainly be the aim in some cases, but 鈥� as Dr. Livingstone shows 鈥� that view comes from the self-portrait perspective (that many adults have), the belief that a social network profile is just self-presentation. It doesn鈥檛 factor in other key properties of social media 鈥� the very individual, contextual, and dynamic nature of using it (expressed in Livingstone鈥檚 placeholder observation) 鈥� which point to a whole spectrum of intention and non-intention.

Array of image-management tactics

Beyond embellishment, a number of other image-management tactics have emerged. One is having another profile altogether 鈥� the 鈥渋deal-self profile.鈥� Others include hiding one鈥檚 profile behind an alias or 鈥渁mping up privacy settings,鈥� as ReadWriteWeb put it. Some students deactivate their accounts for a while 鈥� leaving all their data and contacts intact but just unfindable for that period of time (which we鈥檙e now seeing can also raise suspicion about what they might be hiding).聽聽another, extremely short-term deactivation tactic that wasn鈥檛 aimed at college admission at all, but rather control (not just of privacy): A student would deactivate her Facebook account every time she logged off, so that 鈥渘o one [could] post messages on her wall or send her messages privately or browse her content,鈥� danah wrote in 2010.

Expert views cited by聽聽don鈥檛 discourage such workarounds. 鈥淐ollege applicants shouldn鈥檛 shut down their various social media accounts.鈥� What they should do is 鈥渉eavily edit their online comments, photos, and videos.鈥� The article pointed to fresh data on admissions practices, showing that 鈥渢he percentage of applications that had been negatively affected by social media searches had nearly tripled, from 12% in 2010 to 35% in 2011.鈥�

Have a presence in social media

Note the point about not shutting down social media. ReadWriteWeb heard the same thing from its sources: 鈥淔acebook is still popular enough that a college admissions official will raise a red flag if a kid claims he or she isn鈥檛 on Facebook.鈥� Not using social media isn鈥檛 something to be (or act) proud of, where admissions and scholarships are concerned.

And scholarship providers are checking profiles too. A survey of members of the National Scholarship Providers Association found that one-quarter had 鈥渟earched Google and social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn for information about applicants [though usually only on finalists],鈥� one-third 鈥渄enied a scholarship to a student based on their findings,鈥� and one-quarter of the scholarship providers doing those searches 鈥済ave a scholarship based on information gleaned online,鈥� eCampusNews.com reports.

Seeking positive more than negative

The positive part of that was seen by Bridgewater State University psychology professor Elizabeth Englander too, when she looked into admissions offices鈥� approaches. She found that, 鈥渁lthough college admissions officers did say they looked applicants up online, they said they were generally looking for聽positive聽things about the kids [emphasis hers], and that that鈥檚 what they usually found,鈥� she wrote in an email. 鈥淭he negative problems that they really reacted to were the more extreme problems 鈥� evidence of serious substance abuse, or having joined a hate group, or posting videos of themselves engaging in crimes or violence.鈥�

Related links

• Celebrities fictionalize their profiles too 鈥� maybe they鈥檝e taken some cues from their kids. Reporting on it last spring as if it were something new,聽聽called it 鈥渟ecurity by confusion.鈥�
• A 2008聽聽about universities鈥� own spin on the Web to attract students.
• A 2007聽聽about public image management online