FIRST IMPRESSIONS LAST A LIFETIME ON THE INTERNET!

I am a big fan of the internet and using technology to network with friends and colleagues around the country. I am not so disconnected to realize as well that Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn are great places to share information about your lives with others. I had a boss once who told me that "you shouldn't do anything that you didn't want to end up on the front page of the newspaper". Well the worries of newspapers are long gone and now it is the internet, and more specifically social networking sites that you should worry about.

Don't get me wrong. Social networking sites are very useful in networking and with over 10 million Facebook users alone it can be a great way to advertise and target market products and services. We all learn from making mistakes and what you ultimately hope is that those mistakes don't cost you a great deal personally, professionally or financially.

Now for the "BUT"! So many are connected through "friends of friends" that connect you to others who you don't even know. What all people need to realize, especially young people is that individuals are developing impressions of you based upon what they see and hear about you. Just as businesses can succeed or fail by postive or negative word of mouth advertising the same is true for individuals. I hear people say "Facebook is my own personal space and it shouldn't matter what I put on there", WRONG! Every statement you make on a social networking site, every picture you post, every group you join says something to others about who you are. Many individuals connected to you through social networking have never met you and your friends include not just classmates but parents, relatives, teachers, coaches and others whose impression of you may be important to your future.

Do you know that college admission officers, scholarship directors, coaches and employers are looking at social networking sites. I have friends and colleagues who believe that what you do after school or work hours is your own business. To some extent that is true until you personally decide to post your "after hours" life on the internet.

There are thousands of cases where posting on social networking sites have cost individuals their jobs, families and reputations. I refer you back to almost 15 years ago now when social networking was just beginning to morph into what it is today. A high profile basketball coach at a state university was caught partying with a bunch of students who took pictures and decided to post them to the internet. The coach lost his job rightfully so but thankfully has turned his situation into a positive one.

I know the younger you are the more important it is to be perceived as "cool". In my eyes there is nothing "cooler" than people having the right impression of you rather than the one they create from social networking sites. Think about what your putting on social networking sites and is it leaving the impression that you want it to.

Final word: Growing up in a small town my parents always told me that "someone is always watching", and they were right. News always seemed to make it home before I did. In today's world of technology the entire world has become that small town I grew up in. You are being watched constantly and you are making an impression on thousands of people everyday all connected to you through the internet.

You are the CEO of "You Inc.". You are in charge of your "brand" and control how you are perceived. As the CEO of "You Inc." make sure the impression you leave is a positive one because a bad impression is hard to shake!