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SocialShield Reminds Parents to Add Facebook and Twitter to the College Application Checklist

Over a Quarter of Colleges Search the Web to Vet Hopefuls

With the start of early college application season and the explosion of online privacy concerns of late, SocialShield, a cloud-based service that allows parents to monitor their kids' use of social networks, reminds college hopefuls it's not just SAT scores and AP credits that matter -- it's what they're doing and saying online. Increasingly, teens applying to college could be hurt by their social network activities on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Formspring, Tumblr and more.

With over 10 million 13-17 year olds on Facebook, colleges and universities are realizing they can use these social networking sites to gain additional insight into applicants -- things that might not always show up in their application essay.

Parents spend hundreds of dollars and hours of time on things like SAT prep courses and application essay reviews to make sure their teen puts his or her best foot forward -- what can and should parents do to ensure their child's online activities don't hinder their chances of becoming Class of 2015?

Noah Kindler, father and co-founder of SocialShield, offers simple tips on how parents can help their children button up their online presence and privacy settings before sending off those college applications.

1.  Create a "professional" email address that you only use for college
    applications and networking as anyone can simply Google your personal
    email address and view the many social networks you belong to, recent
    pictures you've posted and more.
2.  Make sure your Facebook profile is set to private and that you block the
    groups you belong to, your photos, friends and interests from anyone
    that you do not accept as a friend.
3.  Switch your Twitter settings to "protect my tweets" by clicking on your
    name, then settings and scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page.
    In April of this year, the Library of Congress was granted the ability
    to archive every single public tweet made since Twitter launched in 2006
    -- meaning every public tweet ever made will be available for anyone to
    view indefinitely. If you set your account to protected, you don't have
    to worry. If you'd like to use Twitter for personal reasons, we suggest
    creating a personal Twitter that you protect and only allow friends to
    follow you and a professional Twitter that you set to public.
4.  Don't use LinkedIn for personal reasons -- keep all content here work
    related.
5.  Don't post any pictures publicly to any site such as Tumblr, Flickr,
    Facebook or Twitter that you wouldn't readily send directly to
    admissions.
6.  Think twice before uploading video to YouTube. What's all in good fun to
    you could be the last straw for the admissions department when choosing
    between you and another student.
7.  Take a few seconds to breathe when someone or something makes you angry;
    a rash comment or blog post posted to a public page like Wordpress,
    Facebook or Twitter is more difficult to remove than a tattoo. Write it
    out on paper first and then decide if you still feel the need to make
    your thoughts known to the world.
8.  Don't Facebook 'friend' professors or college admissions department
    personal. Do 'follow' Colleges you like using your professional Twitter
    handle. They love to see you take an active interest in them by doing
    more than applying.
9.  Be smart. What you do and say online can be viewed by even the least
    internet savvy person. A photo uploaded to a public profile is more
    difficult to remove than a Tattoo.

About SocialShield
Founded in 2009, SocialShield gives parents affordable, easy-to-use, state-of-the-art tools to help them protect their kids' Internet safety. SocialShield's technology allows parents to monitor their children's activities on popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter so they stay on top of who their children interact with online, what photos and conversations are being posted and where children have profiles. Working as a team, SocialShield and parents help ensure their children are using the Social Web safely and responsibly. Based in San Bruno, CA., SocialShield is backed by USVP and Venrock. For more information, visit www.socialshield.com.