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Why You Should Protect Your Online Reputation

In the online world, your posts, pictures, and comments converge to create an online reputation reflecting your values and interests. What others post about you and the conversations you engage in also contribute to the portrait of you that's painted online. It's an important phenomenon to understand because your digital footprint has the potential to sway someone's decision about accepting you into their academic program or hiring you for an internship or job. 

Social Media and College Admissions

According to Kaplan Test Prep's of hundreds of college admissions officers, 66% believe it is perfectly acceptable to review candidates' social media as part of the admissions process, although only 27% say they personally employ this practice. Many admissions counselors are attempting to take a more holistic approach when evaluating applicants, which is why some of them may occasionally review posts and profiles on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Some colleges have either rejected applications or withdrawn admissions offers due to the content posted by applicants, including posts, comments, memes, and photos. Anything that appears to be racist, sexist, or homophobic, or generally offensive, illegal, or intolerant, sends up red flags to the admissions team. Colleges obviously try to avoid inappropriate and discriminatory behavior on their campuses and in their online programs, and one way to accomplish that goal is to prevent college students who are known to exhibit bad behavior from joining their communities.

Most admissions officers who check social media say they are usually looking for positive online reputations that confirm a favorable impression of a candidate rather than searching for a reason to decline an application. Comments and images that portray a high moral character and demonstrate the applicant's skills and interests that are listed on their applications are likely to enhance the future college student's standing. A student's solid online reputation can lead to an admissions offer when combined with healthy grades, good test scores, and extracurriculars. 

Future Employers and Your Online Image

Social media screening also occurs when potential employers are considering candidates for internships, work-study jobs, co-ops, and permanent positions, and for all of the same reasons. A by the Harris Poll found that 70% of the employers who responded said they believe in reviewing applicants' social media profiles as part of the overall hiring process. Although these professionals tend to focus on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, some may also review Instagram and TikTok.

Admissions officers, HR managers, hiring managers, and recruiters review social media profiles partly to avoid potential problems. Offensive, aggressive, or sexually explicit content are all obvious red flags. However, employers are also likely to be concerned about things that you may think are fine to post, such as profanity, gossip, criticism of previous employers, references to confidential information, and even poor grammar and punctuation.

Again, however, most employers say they're reviewing online content simply to get a feeling for each job candidate's personality and characteristics. They're trying to determine whether you'll be a good fit for the organization based on your online reputation and following. Some say they're also trying to verify your job skills and qualifications and the degree of professionalism you demonstrate in your online interactions.

Interview With an Admissions Expert

We asked Rodrigo Juliani — senior lead developer at and CEO of — to explain his motivation for using social media as part of his applicant screening process.

Why Do You Review Applicants' Profiles, and What Are You Looking For?

A key part of my job is understanding if the person we're hiring matches the company's culture and is also a good match for the team [they] will be part of. In most cases I check on social media profiles to understand a little bit of what they actually think and feel and look for positive ranking factors that go beyond technical capabilities.

Most of the time, people with amazing soft skills, such as leadership, communication, empathy, etc., showcase that side of them on social media more than they do on LinkedIn. It's also common to find their true interests beyond work, and you can find wonders!

Can You Give Us Some Examples of Things You've Seen That Have Either Enhanced or Diminished Your Perception of an Applicant?

This example is from the beginning of the year. I had a candidate who didn't have the best interviews, especially because he was very nervous so he wasn't really able to show all his knowledge on the topics discussed. So I went into his social media a little bit and found that he had a very interesting Twitter profile, where he shared solutions for complex problems he had invented and also his mindset of constant improvement, so I decided to hide him!

That totally enhanced my perception of him and he's now a part of our team and has done amazing in the last 6 months!

What Advice Do You Have for Prospective College Students Who Want To Improve Their Online Reputations?

If you're using your social media, especially if you have a publicly visible profile, do your best to share some of your most positive and authentic qualities. Your chances of landing a job are way better if you have amazing skills that serve as a complement to the job-specific ones. Remember that if you want to get something and be successful, you need to provide a much higher value than [what is] expected from you!

How To Create a Good Online Reputation

Now that you know how important your digital footprint is, you may be recalling some questionable content in your feeds and wondering how to reform your social media presence. There are three steps you can take to improve your online reputation as a student: 

1. Revising Your Social Media Profiles

You can start your digital makeover by looking at your profiles on all of the social media platforms you use, as well as any blogs or websites you've created. What do the photos, especially your profile photo, say about you? What do your bios, screen names, or usernames say or suggest about your personality and values? If they don't reflect the image you want to convey to admissions counselors or future employers, it's probably time for a change.

As you redesign your account profiles, consider how you can use words and images to communicate your personal brand and the way you want to be seen. For example, college students majoring in art or fashion may want to give their profiles a more creative edge, while environmental science majors may want to express their interest in nature. Profile bios are also a great place to state the type of work you hope to do after graduation.

2. Clean Up Content

One way to determine what others see when they search for you is to conduct an online search just as they would. Using search engines, like Google or Bing, put in your name and hit the "search" button. If that doesn't bring you the responses you need, narrow your search by keying in your name and hometown or city. Or if you're in college already, perhaps try your name combined with your school's name. 

Your search may reveal several posts, pictures, and comments that you now realize are inappropriate and should be removed. Here's how to handle them:

If it's your own content on your accounts, it's easy to simply go through and delete each item or change your privacy settings so the content isn't public. Although nothing is ever truly erased from the internet, it will be much more difficult for others to find offensive content. 

If it's negative content posted on other people's websites and social media — for instance, you may be tagged in a photo of you and other friends at a party that got a little out of control — remove the tag yourself or ask your friend to remove the tag, change the privacy settings, or delete the post entirely. If you want to delete a comment you made on someone else's blog, forum, or website, send a request to have the comment removed by accessing the Contact Us or Help button.

You may be tempted to delete your accounts entirely, but this would be a mistake. Admissions officers and hiring managers expect to see candidates developing an online presence, and they may become concerned about your credibility if you don't appear anywhere on the web.

3. Establish New Personal Standards for Social Media Usage

Now that you've engaged in some personal online reputation management, it's time to lay down a few ground rules for the future. Your first step may be to set some of your personal account privacy settings to "private" while leaving others — especially LinkedIn — open to the public. Also, don't assume "anonymous" platforms actually are, so carefully consider whether you want to continue contributing to those platforms.

If you're wondering what is okay to post, here are some recommended guidelines:

• Make positive statements, and avoid criticizing or complaining about others.

• Consider the code of conduct written by your current or potential school or workplace, and make sure all posts and comments reflect that code.

• Be careful with humor because others may not find some content as funny as you do.

• Think of your online content as an extension of your written resume by showing yourself engaged in your extracurricular activities, volunteer opportunities, student life, and family life.

• Look for ways to show off your soft skills in posts, such as your leadership abilities, collaborative team spirit, or creative problem-solving.

• Use your social media accounts to create a visual portfolio of your interests and work.

• Share content that may be of interest to your growing professional network.

With a little practice, these guidelines will become routine. However, you may still want to conduct an audit of your online presence every six months or so just to ensure that all content associated with your name is positive.

Online Reputation Management Resources

Whether you're a high school student, college student, recent graduate, or working adult planning to return to college, you can now see the benefits of managing your personal online reputation effectively. 

Some additional resources — some free, some not — that you may find useful include the following: