Why online social networks are actually a good idea after college

Many of us have debated deleting our Facebook accounts and some are still wondering what the heck is the point of Twitter? Our inclination to rid our lives of online social networking sites may be because we want to convey a more professional appearance and those pictures of us from our 21st birthdays now seem pretty embarrassing. Others may have always thought that the sites were a waste of time. However, recently they've each proved to be quite useful to me.

Here's why...

Reason #1: Now, instead of facebook chatting with your best friend while they sit on the other side of the living room, or questioning a friend's tweet when you're about to see that person in your next class, you may actually be hundreds of miles away from your friends after graduation. I've found that although a few very close friends call or text me, online social sites are the easiest way to chat with or message each other. These sites make the 800 miles between me and my friends from home seem a little less long.

Reason #2: I've used both Facebook and Twitter to promote this blog and the feedback I've received thus far has been awesome. People I haven't talked to or seen in years have told me the ways that they can relate to my post graduation struggles. And what's even more awesome is that people are so willing and excited to offer me advice on pursuing my career goals. With the exception of my parents, who I've emailed the link to, everyone who has read this blog has accessed it through either my Facebook or Twitter page. Without these accounts, making people aware of this blog would be a lot more difficult.

Professional individuals and organizations have caught on to these online trends and have utilized the fan pages. Part of one of my past internships was to help update Facebook, Twitter and Digg.com (another cool site you should check out). I really think that online social sites have a lot of benefits - for one they reach a younger portion of the population. Although the younger crowd may be using them to show their friends their new skate videos or to bash their ex-boyfriends, they're at least learning some valuable online skills.

While your online profiles definitely have the potential to hurt your professional life, they also offers you the opportunity to promote yourself and any projects you may be working on or towards. I absolutely appreciate all the feedback I've received from everyone. It's awesome, you're awesome, and one day we're all going to be very successful professionals.