Michael Hansen, freshman in DGS, has met a lot of people in the last few weeks. Coming to a new university, he made friends in his dorm, classes and new clubs that he joined. He met so many people that he doesn’t quite remember them all. But, that wasn’t a big deal for him because he had a way of remembering people — they friended him on Facebook.

“Social networking sites are a great way to connect with people and put yourself out there,” Hansen said. “It makes it harder for someone to drift off.”

But Hansen never wants to spend too much time on Facebook because of a common worry — people other than his friends might see his page and question the information on it.

Different forms of social media, such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter, are rapidly becoming not only the standard communication tools for all ages, but also the tools for job recruitment and publicizing for businesses.

LinkedIn is a networking site for professionals, Twitter is a networking site where individuals can send and receive short updates and Facebook is a social networking website where people can personalize profiles.

And if you’re under the age of 30, it’s a safe bet to say you probably have profiles on all three.

These social networking sites can be helpful and hurtful for a college student’s professional career, Katie Flint, assistant director for marketing at the Career Center said.

“They can be really useful but you have to be careful,” Flint said. “Everyone can see what you put up on the web, and a lot of employers look at that when deciding who to hire.”

Flint advised students to make a public, professional LinkedIn page and to keep pages like Twitter or Facebook personal.

She also suggested making two pages, one that was professional and one personal, but also said that could get complicated.

Flint said that some organizations may actually count it against an individual for not having a social networking site.

“Everyone is using them, and it proves that you are connected and up on the times,” Flint said. “Businesses want new employees who are up on the times.”

Flint said businesses would be looking for a tasteful site, and that people must be aware to not have anything that could be taken in a bad way, even if it’s just a joke.

Eunice Yu, junior in LAS said she thinks businesses sometimes take things too far.

“You should be able to have a personal life. They don’t have to know everything about you,” Yu said.

Hansen said the more you use a site, the more complicated you make it, while Yu stated that as long as you keep your pages private, you’ll be safe.

That’s the one thing Flint warned about though, saying nothing is ever safe on the internet.

“Whatever you put into cyberspace, it’s out there,” Flint said. “It doesn’t matter how protected you can make it. Any one can find information once it’s on the web.”