College Students Self-Presentation and Online Social Networks

Abstract

College students are active users of social networking sites, and they share a variety of information via their profiles. Employers and graduate schools are one population viewing potential candidate's social networking profiles. This study aimed to explore graduating college students' perception of appropriate or inappropriate content on their social networking sites as they went through the job searching process. College students are users of several social networking sites; however, this study focused on users of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews and an online analysis site called Reppler.com with seven graduating college seniors to learn about perceptions of their online profiles and comfort level with potential employers or graduate schools viewing their profiles.

Results showed that participants have learned from a variety of sources about what is appropriate and inappropriate to have online, and are not overly concerned with potential employers or graduate schools viewing their profiles.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Dianne M Timm (Supervisor)