Colleges warn about networking sites

Facebook users need a ".edu" e-mail address and can view complete profiles only of users at their colleges unless identified as a "friend" by the profile's owner. So most students feel confident they are addressing an audience of peers. Maybe they shouldn't be so sure.

Police are increasingly monitoring the sites. And it's not hard for prospective employers to get a ".edu" e-mail address from an alumnus or an intern, and recruiters are increasingly trolling the Internet to scope out prospective hires.

"They may be looking at these sites wondering if there's a personality fit with their company culture," said Tim Luzader, director of Purdue's center for career opportunities. A recent survey there found that a third of employers recruiting there ran job applicants' names through search engines, and 12 percent said they looked at social networking sites.

News reports of online stalkers warn there are potential personal safety issues, too. Tara Redmon, who oversees the orientation program and transition program at Western Kentucky, said one inspiration for adding the topic this year was talking to a student who had put her dorm address and room number on a posted profile, never considering the risk.

College administrators say they can't — and wouldn't want to — keep students off sites such as Facebook. Many welcome the kind of community-building the sites facilitate, and they recognize they have become an important, and usually harmless, venue for the kind of identity formation and presentation that's an important part of the college experience.

The sites actually help with one of the major goals of orientation: bonding. At Birmingham Southern, dozens of members of the incoming class of about 350 had already formed a Class of 2010 Facebook group long before the start of school.

"That's great," said Renie Moss, the school's dean of students. "That's what should be happening, forming that camaraderie. But we're hoping to just maybe give the students a moment to pause and make sure they put out something they can be proud of."

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