Newsblog: Lives at the click of a button

Vanbrugh Welfare Rep Hayley Fairclough tells The Yorker about YUSU's online awareness campaign.

Hi, I’m Hayley, and I'm a Facebook addict. It has been approximately 37 minutes since my last visit and throughout the course of this entry I will probably have refreshed my home page in the region of six times. I am not proud.

What I love about Facebook are the seemingly endless possibilities: my friends and my frenemies, my loves and my ex-loves, some of my old teachers and even my cousin's dog (don’t ask). All at the click of a button. Their lives as public property. For someone as inquisitive (read: nosey) as me, Facebook really is heaven.

I wasn't always a Facebook girl; Myspace held my heart for a number of heavily eyelined and jauntily angled years. I had a Bebo account for approximately 13 and a half days and God, don't even get me started on Habbo Hotel. My latest addiction is Twitter, my love stemming from its ability to capture both my social networking passion and my fixation with 'celebrity', but really nothing can quite compare to seeing the high school bitch tagged in a hideous, drunken picture or waking up to the words, "[your ex’s name here] is now listed as single". I live for those moments. Again, I am not proud.

One of my favourite videos on Facebook was posted by someone I don't know. A long line of stalking led me from one person to another to this hideous video and, despite not knowing those involved, it gives me a lot of enjoyment. Picture this: a room full of rowdy male students, drinking, smoking weed, making countless "your mum" jokes when in walks a robust, 40-something stripper. Wearing heels and not a lot else, she proceeds to tie a bib and nappy onto the "birthday boy" and thrusts her ample, whipped-cream covered bosom in his face. I usually navigate away at this point (it gets pretty graphic) but the first five minutes or so are priceless. I highly recommend it; it's remarkably easy to find.

I'm a Welfare Rep for Vanbrugh College and when YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer Charlie Leyland asked me to organise an 'Online Awareness' campaign, I have to admit, I really wasn’t aware of a problem. A few hours of research, however, has highlighted to me the dangers of social networking. An alarming 62% of British employers check Facebook, Myspace and Bebo before making the decision to hire you and a quarter of these have admitted rejecting candidates as a result.

Imagine, if you will, the aforementioned stripper walking into an interview for an office job. All dressed up in her finest, sitting down and answering their rapid-fire questions like a pro - but it all means nothing if the whole time the interviewer is picturing her cream-covered boobs being waved around the place.

Think back to that picture of you passed out in a corner of Ziggy's; knickers on display, perhaps a football player or two towering above you making crude gestures. You kept it tagged just for the "lols" but is it really something you want a potential employer to see?

It’s not just employers that are the problem, either. Copyright laws apply even when posting essay advice on a friend's wall and those poorly expressed, borderline offensive forum posts from when you were 13? They’re likely to be held in archives for years to come.

Make your profile private, only tag the pictures you'd be happy with your mum seeing and be cautious with any views you express in public places. Likelihood is you'll probably be fine, but taking a few simple precautions doesn't hurt.

Throughout Week 5 we'll have posters, leaflets and postcards dotted around campus to provide you with more information on the subject. Alongside this, fake "wall-to-walls" will be pinned in JCRs so if you see one please feel free to have a scribble (but keep it clean!). 'Online Awareness' really is an important issue so spread the word, have fun and stay safe.

PS: I Facebooked your Mum ;)

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