Every young person knows someone who has lost an interview, a job, or some sort of professional opportunity because of scandalous activity posted on their public social networking profiles. An article in today's Washington Post (reg. required) reported a recent increase in the use of aliases on websites like MySpace and Facebook. More and more people are creating alter-egos to keep strangers out and and unfiltered information intact. Resorting to a fictional name sounds a bit extreme, especially with the prevalence of privacy controls and ease of "untagging" unflattering photographs. It also defeats the purpose of utilizing the "networking" aspect of these networking sites. It is awfully tough to climb the proverbial ladder under someone else's name.

Deleting an existing account and creating an alter ego is, in most cases, unnecessary. Say you just graduated from college and snagged your first "grown up" job. After your first day of work, you receive a friend request from your boss on Facebook. What are your options?

1) Decline friend request. After all, this is your boss, not your buddy.
2) Accept friendship, but only allow limited profile viewing.
3) Delete your hard-partying pictures. You're a professional now, welcome to the real world.

Recent grads might miss those photos, but there are certainly benefits to keeping a profile with your actual name. Online networking can be endlessly beneficial, especially for young professionals who are moving to new cities and starting new jobs. And for those still on the job hunt, social networking sites can also help uncover the perfect job - though preferably not under that fake name. The New York Times (reg. required) recently reported a rise in utilizing Facebook for the sole purpose of business networking. New applications from CareerBuilder.com and Jobster.com even help people kick off the job search from the comfort of their own personal profiles.

While Facebook can be a daily reminder of what college life was like, it also has the potential to be a shiny free resume for everyone to see. In the end, it comes down to deciding whether snapshots of beer bongs and keg stands or business contacts and career options mean more to young people leaving college. No one said it was going to be an easy decision.

Posted by casey