“Mom… Just. No. That’s humiliating. Don’t post anything about me. It’s embarrassing.”

Said my teen when I first got on Facebook in 2005, as a full-time college student. He was more right than any of us could have predicted.

College kids used to be total exhibitionists on Facebook because it felt private or at least shielded from the eyes of their parents and authority figures. Everything changed a few years ago on Facebook when it opened up to more kinds people than college students. Even the kids I went to school with at the University of Georgia, whose Facebook party pictures albums I was invited to see, have taken down their embarrassing pictures (of all kinds) because they want real jobs that pay.

You want your kids to have real jobs one day, don’t you?

Nothing, but nothing is more valuable than your good name online. This is already true for your kids. Consider this: as soon as they’re old enough to hit Google, kids use it to check out everybody they know, including themselves. Please keep their future in mind every time you want to share an amusing or touching post featuring them doing something embarrassing that could haunt them for years to come. 

Very few people know that:

Facebook never deletes pictures from your profile, even years after you close your account! #ShareSmart #ORM

— LoriRandallStradtman (@Lori_Randall) December 18, 2012

Nothing you post online is ever sacred. #ShareSmart

— LoriRandallStradtman (@Lori_Randall) December 18, 2012

Nothing posted online is ever absolutely sacred, no matter how you tightly you configure your privacy settings, but you can definitely minimize your risk. Watch this video to learn more about what this decision means and how you can protect yourself (and your kids, if you have them) online quickly, easily, and at no cost.

Please share this post with your friends who share about their kids online!

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