The past - online

As soon as "You've Got Mail" hit the big screen, Americans knew the Internet-age was finally here. As the years have gone on, it's only gotten more popular. People everywhere are constantly checking their e-mails, blackberries, facebook and twitter pages, and even dating websites.

Facebook has been mainstream since I can remember coming to college four years ago. I even met my future roommate on Facebook and we decided to request each other, months before ever meeting face to face. Our floor in Towers that year was made up of other girls and guys our age, who, like us, had befriended each other on Facebook before ever meeting and then requesting to room together.

Since then, photos, personal information, videos and unimportant details have been posted on Facebook for hundreds of thousands of people to see every day if they choose to search for your name. As great as Facebook can be to communicate, can it cause more problems than good?

Many of my own Facebook friends post photos of themselves at parties intoxicated and enjoying their college years. I, myself, have been guilty of posting a few of these photos in my early months of freshman year, which have since been deleted. However, many people don't delete these photos even though they know they can be found by future employers, family members and anyone in the professional world. I would not want my future employers to see me as a freshman enjoying my college years with a drink in my hand and dressed unprofessionally, but many photos of people on the web are just that.

There is nothing wrong with going out and enjoying yourself in college, but don't put yourself in harm's way by posting photographs of yourself doing anything you wouldn't want your grandmother or future employers to see. Even though most of us have even the strictest of privacy settings, don't be fooled. You can still be found through friends of friends or even googled, and while some photos may not show up, others could.

Be safe and protect your professional image. For many employers, the first thing they do upon receiving a resume is to look up the person on Google, Twitter and Facebook. No one wants their Facebook photos from four years ago to cost them a future job or internship.