The downside to Facebook

College students focus on networking, grades, making friends, and having a good time, all while getting involved and staying in touch with friends, and then there's Facebook. Facebook aids college students in all of their tasks but has its potential downfalls.

Students use Facebook to keep in touch with high school friends and chat with current friends. It also allows them to take breaks from studying.

"Facebook gives me a temporary break from work and allows me to refocus and get back on track," stated Mount Union student Sarah Carlson.

While Facebook has these advantages, it also causes problems for some students and opens them to dangers. These dangers include not getting their work done, not being able to get a job, getting fired from a position or being stalked.

Many times when students sit down at a computer their first instinct is to open their Facebook and see what new notifications they have. Now they can even chat with each other through the social networking system.

"I automatically check my Facebook when I get on a computer. I end up starting my work at least 15 minutes later because I was checking in on people or chatting," stated Mount Union student, Laura Griffin.

Students also catch themselves wasting more than just 15 minutes. Will Warren said that there have been times when he just sat in his room and on Facebook for nearly an hour, therefore not getting anything else done.

Facebook also has privacy issues. There are ways to block others or only allow "friends" to see the page. However, sometimes even those "friends" are not people who should have someone else's personal photos.

"I feel like as private as Facebook seems, it really isn't. Once pictures are up anyone has the ability to save them and use them for whatever they want. Unfortunately they then have those pictures forever," Kristin Strah, another Mount Union student said.

Sometimes pictures a person may not even know about end up online. They are then public domain and there is little anyone can do to stop someone from publishing the photos. The photos then get people in trouble with friends, significant others and possibly the law. When pictures from parties are posted many times they depict underage drinking as well as violations of other college policies.

Recently, your reputation isn't the only thing on the line but also you future and your employment. Recruiters and employers have begun to use Facebook and other social networking sites to check up on their potential interviewees.

Information from Yale University showed that many recent graduates had encountered employers checking out their Facebook pages and using their junior employees to access the information.

"I'm not surprised, employers will always be interested to learn as much information about their candidates as they can, and this is just another way for them to do so," Nicole Snyder, associate director for recruitment and employer relations at Princeton University, told a reporter at Yale University.

The numbers of those using Facebook to screen potential employees is increasing, according to Careerbuilder.com. They found that 22 percent of companies had checked candidates' online networking sites and another 9 percent claimed they were going to in the future.

While 24 percent claimed to have hired someone because of their networking profile, 33 percent said they decided not to give a job offer based on online networking profiles. The 33 percent that denied people jobs said that it was most often because of 'inappropriate' or 'provocative' behavior in photos.