My Internet Self

Today I got another friend request on Facebook from a future classmate. I always feel mixed about accepting these requests. On one hand, it's nice to develop somewhat of a rapport with my classmates, since they will be the people I spend all my time with next year. On the other hand, it feels weird to give them a glimpse of my life now, before our experiences all merge. There have been a few people that I've exchanged emails with or followed on Twitter, but it always feels like the Facebook friend request gives them access to all my photos and notes and identity. Not that I assume everyone is going to pore over my profile in detail... it's just weird that they CAN.

Despite not really having anything to hide, I do tend to keep my profile very private. (Yeah, right, nothing to hide, you say? Seriously... my mom's on Facebook with complete access to everything posted by me or about me...) It just comes down to controlling who has what information about me. I remember I went to a party a few years ago, and I met this girl for the first time, and she commented on pictures I had previously posted. Since that time, I changed my settings so only friends could see anything. I guess you just never know who's going to tag a picture and put a misleading caption on it, or make a comment that is a private joke that could totally throw someone else off.

Since I'm finishing up at my job (18 days, but who's counting? Yikes... so much to do in that time!), I'm very aware that it will not be long before internship searching and another job hunt begin. While I wouldn't expect that every potential future employer would Google me or look me up on Facebook, I definitely know that it's possible. As a result, I do search my name regularly to see what shows up. (Met a fellow blogger who shares my name in the process!) So far, I haven't found anything I'm ashamed of, but nothing particularly astonishing either.

Anyway... just thought I'd throw this out there for a little discussion, perhaps. How much of your identity do you reveal online through public forms? How private is your Facebook profile? Are you ever worried what recruiters/future classmates may find?