By Quetzal Mama • September 24, 2013
The Cyber Profile:
El Perfil Cibernético
Copyright Roxanne Ocampo 2013
When
my children were in middle school, I began practicing Quetzal Mama Principle
#4: Behave
in ways that support your belief in your child’s higher purpose.” At the time my behavior was intended to
demonstrate to my children that they were special and had a higher purpose in
life. To demonstrate my belief, I
submitted articles (with a photo) to local publications like the Tracy Press
and the Stockton Record. The articles
would be snippets about a recent accomplishment, award, or other academic or
athletic achievement. Since I wrote the
article, naturally it would have a positive spin and showcase my kids in a very
positive way! The plus was that the photo
was high quality and “mom approved.” This
practice may sound like bragging to some Latino parents. However, I knew that no one else was going to
validate my children’s accomplishments – so I had to take matters into my own
hands. My parenting strategy was for my
kids to see their image published in a positive forum. I believed this positive reinforcement would
help them remain focused in their academic goals. I had no idea I was actively building my
kid’s Cyber Profile.
It
didn’t occur to me how I was building their “Cyber Profile” until Fall 2010. It was at this time – during the Fall college
application and scholarship period, that I Googled my kids. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what would pop-up
in the event an admissions officer or scholarship committee searched for their
online presence. I can still remember calling
my kids to come downstairs to view my computer screen. On my screen was a stream of positive online
images and stories about them. There
were articles about winning scholarships, research conducted, and their
involvement within the Latino community.
It was as if we had intentionally
planned and designed their Cyber Profile!
Bingo.
That was it. From this experience I began coaching Latino students
to design and strategize their own Cyber Profiles. Subsequently, my coaching tips evolved into
my 1-hour workshop entitled, naturally, “The Cyber Profile.”
So,
what is a Cyber Profile? A Cyber Profile
is an electronic “footprint”
visible by the public. It contains any
images or text about your student. It
can be intentional or unintentional. Sometimes
it is indirect – through association. The
bottom line: It has the potential to make
or break chances of admission to selective colleges, win or forfeit scholarships,
land or forego internships, and gain or lose access to selective leadership
programs.
Where do you find
this so-called Cyber Profile? This
profile is built through an online presence in any of the following
mediums: blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube
posts, online newspaper articles or comments, school newsletters, . . . basically,
any place your kids put their business.
The profile can be
positive or negative. For the purposes
of college admissions, a positive profile will showcase your student’s academic
accomplishments, extracurricular activities, and community service. A negative profile will contain offensive
posts, questionable photos, or negative association through affiliation with
inappropriate websites or organizations.
However, a negative profile can also develop through posts that convey
immaturity and place the student in a non-academic light. Students who are constantly posting to
Facebook may be inadvertently creating a negative profile.
During my
workshops, I do notice a few students who become nervous when I start talking
about the Cyber Profile. This is because
I begin showing parents where their students “hang out” in Cyberville. I illustrate how their kids leave an
electronic footprint on sites like Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, and
Twitter. I glance around and immediately
spot that look all parents of teenagers recognize. It’s that guilty face our teenagers make when
they are busted: “Whaaaat?”
At
this time, we do a little refresher and I remind parents of Quetzal Mama
Principle #10: Be Large and In-Charge. I
use my own example of being a
“large and in-charge” parent by sharing how I did not allow my kids have a Facebook
account until they were adults. Nope,
not even the so-called “private” page. I
also share how my husband and I strategically placed our kid’s computer in a
highly visible location. Their computer
was out in the open, on a table in our busy hallway. Ouch.
I know that’s harsh for some teenagers.
However, we set these boundaries to ensure our kids were not wasting
study time, and to ensure they were not visiting inappropriate websites. Homework was the first priority, period.
Family Circle Magazine – March 2013
Keep Your Teen’s Facebook Account Appropriate: According to a new report, about one in four scholarship providers check their finalists’ online profiles. “Companies want to find students who reflect well on them,” says Kantrowitz. “They search for inappropriate behavior and offensive language, and even look at student’s natural writing style to see whether their parents probably wrote the essay for them.”
The
profile doesn’t culminate the moment your kids receive college admission
letters. It will continue throughout
college, graduate school, and as they enter the job market. Now that two of my three children are in
college, they continue to appreciate the importance of their Cyber Profile. In fact, let me share a recent example of how
this profile came into play for a competitive summer internship.
Last
summer, our daughter was selected to participate in a competitive surgical
internship at a renowned medical research institution. While in the program, she had the opportunity
to have lunch with one of the program directors. During their lunch discussion, the Director
referenced something in her background that was not disclosed in her applicant
materials. She curiously asked the
Director, “How did you know that?” In a
matter of fact tone, the Director said, “We Googled you.”
If
you have teenagers on a pathway to college, I hope you will appreciate the
importance of helping them protect their Cyber Profile. More importantly, I hope you will be
proactive in strategizing and designing a positive profile for your children. If you’d like to attend one of my free
workshops (in-person or online) on “The Cyber Profile,” message me on Facebook.
Enjoy
my list of “Top 10 Mistakes” regarding the Cyber Profile! Quetzal Mama
1. Not
establishing rules “from the get go!”
2. Confusing
privacy with respect
3. Underestimating
the power of an online presence
4. Waiting
until the senior year to start a profile
5. Not
monitoring your student’s profile
6. Waiting
for someone else to create your child’s profile
7. Trusting
your kids to “know best” and figure it out
8. Mistakenly
believing you can “erase” or remove a negative profile
9. Allowing
your kids to have a so-called “private” Facebook page
10. The
online presence doesn’t pass the Abuelita
test!