Social Media Readiness for College and Career

Alan Katzman from Social Assurity presented to students on 9/28/15. His message was clear in that social media can play a big role in the college and career selection process. Below are some highlights from the event:

• Most teens don’t think about how their social media activities will impact their future academic and career goals. Usually just focused on communicating with friends.
• Everything you post is permanent--even Snapchat and YikYak. Part of Digital Footprint. Some is harder to find than others, but all is discoverable. Anonymity is a myth.
• People who have never met you will make decisions about you based on what they see.
• GPA and test scores are not enough to distinguish students for admission to highly competitive colleges.
• Percent of admissions officers who visited an applicant’s social media page continues to go up every year. 44% in 2016 as compared to 24% in 2011 (projected 57 in 2018). They are not looking to find bad information. They are looking to find out more about the applicant.
• Idea of “social proof” is to confirm idea about someone by seeing that social media profile matches hypothesis. Important to present yourself as you want to be seen.
• 93% of employers look at social media before hiring. Lots of companies even hire directly from social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)
• Worst kind of posts for perception would be “I hate my teacher” or being cruel to other students.
• Don’t recommend keeping social media “private” or trying to use an alias account during college admission. They will find you, so be authentic. If you can’t be found on Facebook, it might be a red flag.
• Get their attention the right way--to get noticed and get engaged.
• Demonstrate your passion and commitment. Tell your story.
• LinkedIn profile shows up at the top of Google searches and is a great way to demonstrate interest. Allows you to find communities of people who went to the schools you are interested in. Can put Activity List on LinkedIn. Not just for people in the business world.
• “Demonstrated interest” (whether they think you’ll attend if accepted) is an extremely important factor in admissions and is another thing colleges may look for on social media.