The web has expanded our ability to exercise our freedom of expression. The growth of Facebook and Twitter has intruded into various aspects of our lives. We all know the power of social networking with these two mediums and that has become a double edged sword.

Some users talk about and show the many events that occur in their lives. Some use it as a marketing tool and some use it to communicate with others. For example, you can even use twitter to find a job.

Everyone and almost anyone can see what is up on your accounts. What you say, what pictures are shown, and what applications you use all serve to create a real profile of what your account profile reveals. This is much like what credit card companies do based on your spending habits.

Perform a Google search on your own name and see what comes up. If you are popular enough (which need not be much), your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account will probably show up as some of the top results. Any employer can do the same! And depending on how strict your boss is, your career or potential job would be in jeopardy if they find something unsatisfactory.

What Can Hurt Your Image

• The use of various four-letter words. Profanity can be a part of someone’s daily vocabulary. There will be times when your temper takes over and you say things. It is understandable. Just don’t let your employer see it.

• The behind-the-back talk that’s posted in front of the whole world. Any type of gossip and bad-mouthing online for anyone to see shows that you lack integrity and trust. Why would a company want to keep someone who can’t keep confidential and classified information to themselves?

• Any talk of work or of anyone at work (especially your boss). Whether you are writing of a positive or negative experience at work, certain things may be seen as private from your company’s standpoint. The most common tweets and updates from work are: “bored at work”, “sigh, so much work” and “nothing to do at work”. It may show that you or the staff is unproductive, that you are discontent with your job, and that the company is not doing so well. This can all be considered vital (and top secret) information on a business’s wellbeing.

• The photos of your nights out. You were just tagged in a photo with you barfing over the railing on the balcony. It was probably a blast and the picture would be a great memoir but it is pretty obvious why you don’t need to be seen in this inebriated condition.

• The timestamps that record your actions. Let’s say you left work 2 hours early because your boss wasn’t in today. Your update says that you were half way across town when you had an hour of left work. You just handed your boss the evidence to fire you. It doesn’t even matter what you tweet or what your Facebook status is because simplying updating your accounts during work hours may already be enough for you to join the unemployment population.

How You Can Save Your Career

Firstly, note that Facebook statuses can be erased for good but your tweets can still be found even if you have deleted them from your profile page. So it is better off to never have said anything in the first place.

• Don’t use your real name.
• Change the privacy settings of your accounts*.
• Untag yourself from all questionable photos.
• Delete all questionable Facebook status updates and tweets.
• Accept new friends and followers with caution.

*For Facebook privacy settings, you should change the Search Discovery visibility to a narrower search party. For the result content, hide your friend list and the pages you are a fan of. Also, uncheck the public search listing setting so that your name will not show up in the results of search engine searches.

Of course, if you can control yourself and think a little bit before your next tweet or update and take the correct precautions, there is no need to hide your name. Go out there and be known!

Be safe (on Twitter and Facebook)!

Photo credit: carrotcreative

Don’t argue it. Every college student wants, needs and uses money. Some have part-time jobs. Some don’t.

For those that don’t, a few have created their own business and became their own boss. Entrepreneurial spirit is rampant in the young adult generation and some ideas have the potential to become success stories.

I have also become somewhat of a businessman myself but not to the great extent of a few that I have witnessed in my years in college.

Review tutor

 This one is obvious. But, I’ve seen one student create a big business from teaching other students. He was smart not to do simple 1-on-1 sessions at the library. He taught his own classes which were reviews for chemistry courses (a very popular and nerve-racking curriculum). Simple word-of-mouth and flyers was all the marketing he needed.

These sessions didn’t cost the mere $20 per hour. He was charging close to $100 per class. I attended one of these classes and he was good. This business wouldn’t thrive if he wasn’t fully competent in this field. He even made his own materials and explained everything so that it was easy to understand. His fame throughout campus led my school to take action to try to break up this gig.

Mobile Barber Shop

Guys like to have their hair cut every 1-2 weeks. For those who live in dorms, don’t have any form of transportation, and want to save a little money, they turn to the person that comes to them and cuts their hair for $5 a pop in their bathroom. With a basic haircut set that costs no more than $50, the college barber has set up a popular business.

He makes business cards and offers free haircuts when students refer a number of their friends. He was so busy that he used his Blackberry to keep up with the appointments!

Many Others Out There

Granted, not any college student can go off and start their own little business because it takes motivation and dedication to do so. Plus, the aforementioned individuals need to be really good at what they do. The tutor has to be smart and have great communication skills that can get a concept across. The barber has to be somewhat artistic with some knowledge of hairstyles.

There are probably many other businesses that college students have set up. Any other college students or graduates seen anything similar?

Photo credit: ilovepaisley

Today, Stephanie at PoorThanYou did a superb job hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance #214: United States Presidents Edition, in which my post on 8 Things That Do Not Affect Your Credit Score received a mention.

Last week, the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights: Sweet 16 Edition was hosted at WiseBread where my money story on the magic of compounding was noted.

Check out these other links to articles that are worth reading:

• Advice for a Recent Graduate Looking for a Job at MyLifeROI
• Dangerous Personal Finance Magazine Headlines: The Attraction of High Yields at MyMoneyBlog
• Become A Debt Killing Machine In Five Steps at FrugalDad

A couple days ago, a friend asked whether checking his credit report would hurt his credit score. After telling him that it didn’t, I realized that there is a lot of information on what can hurt your credit score. What about the things that do nothing to your credit score?

The Types of Credit Inquiries

A soft pull or inquiry is a request to see your credit report by a party that didn’t receive your consent to do so. Account reviews made only by you also fall under this category.

A hard pull or inquiry is a request to see your credit report when you authorize a party to do so. Applying for a credit card or loan would result in a hard pull by the bank or institution.

Things With No Effect On Credit Score

1. Ordering your credit report or credit score.
   Whether your order your free credit report or myFICO score, doing so is considered a personal account review, which is a soft inquiry.
2. Asking for a lower interest rate on your credit card.
   Just talking to a customer representative isn’t going to result in a negative consequence. In fact, your credit score may end up increasing if you get the lower APR. But, you still might want to be careful about making this move.
3. Having an overdraft on your checking account.
   Unless your bank reports you to a collection agency for the overdrawn amount, the only penalty would be the overdraft fee.
4. Receiving credit counseling.
   Seeking help with your debt doesn’t affect your credit. But, the debt management vehicles you use as a result of credit counseling could hurt your credit score.
5. Making multiple payments in a single billing cycle.
   All that matters to the credit card company is that you pay the minimum due for the month. Multiple payments in a billing cycle means nothing to your credit score.
6. Getting married.
   Both spouses keep their own credit history and therefore, have their own individual credit report and credit score. Opening joint accounts, on the other hand, would create a new credit profile with both names on it. And joint accounts would have an effect on individual credit histories.
7. Getting divorced.
   Just like when getting married, each individual has their own credit histories, except for joint accounts. The act of divorcing does nothing to your credit score. You still have to pay the debts on joint accounts. The best route is to inform all creditors of the divorce and divide the debt. This way, if one person doesn’t pay their share, the other won’t suffer from it.
8. Receiving “pre-approved” credit card offers from banks.
   When banks get the information that determines you as pre-approved, they do a soft pull on your credit report and that is not seen by creditors.

While many things will hurt your credit score, many things won’t. So now, stop fretting about whether this and that will affect your credit score.