WVU Students Underestimate the Impact of Drinking and Facebook

At any age, college students need to be aware of the effects Facebook has one their internships, careers, and their futures
By: Tiffany Doolittle and Ashley Alford

Many students at West Virginia University are unaware of the consequences that can arise from inappropriate postings on Facebook (e.g. pictures, videos, statuses, etc.). The consequences have become so frequent that UrbanDictionary.com has created the term “Facebook fired,” which is a verb for being fired for something posted on Facebook. According to the Princeton Review, WVU has been ranked a top party school for many years making students more vulnerable to parties, pressures, and unwanted pictures.

Facebook started out as a source of networking for college students across the country. And in no time, Facebook spread to high school students, adults, colleges and employers. Users are able to block certain people and set their information to private, but Facebook has recently stated in its Terms of Service that anything posted is legally in their hands.

According to CarreerBuilder.com, one in five employers uses social networks as a tool in their hiring process and internship recruitment. This means that students who post any evidence of inappropriate acts, such as drinking, can be discarded from the application process or terminated from a current job. A recent poll shows that 41 percent of managers said that alcohol and drug use was a top concern, while looking over the Facebook profiles of potential employees.

Aly Goodwin, a public relations specialist and the senior vice president of Charles Ryan Associates stresses to her students and employees the importance of good representation and a clean Facebook. “Many students have the false idea that they can make their pictures private, but businesses can easily get around user’s privacy settings and into what students don’t want us to see,” says Goodwin.

Cops are another big concern for Facebook users with pictures of them drinking. Police have recently started to use Facebook pictures as evidence of underage drinking and contributing to minors. In an article found on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s online newspaper, UTC’s chief of police, Mac McNeely states that he uses Facebook all the time for evidence of underage drinking and other criminal acts. Students at WVU may be laid-back when it comes to underage drinking in front of campus police, but posting those “care-free” images on Facebook can affect students in the long run.

Students involved in school activities such as sports, clubs, sororities, and fraternities on campus can be fined, suspended, or completely removed from the organization if caught drinking underage. Jackie Paige, Kappa Kappa Gamma’s vice president of standards, has the responsibility of keeping her sorority sister’s behavior in line, including what it posted on each sister’s Facebook.

“We are more strict than most sororities when it comes to underage drinking because we want to have a well-respected image in the community,” said Paige. “Regulating Facebook pictures and captions can reduce the risk of fining and eliminate the stereotype sororities are already given.”