Think you are completely safe when it comes to what’s being posted on your social networking profiles?  Think all those photos of you or your kids that are tagged, all of those videos you or they might make little cameos in, are safe and sound and seen by no one but you?  Think again.  Turns out more people are seeing this information, even people you would not exactly want seeing some of it…think prospective employers, think college admissions.

That’s right, be afraid, be very afraid.  New reports are coming out that a growing number of college admissions around the country are turning to social networking tools to dive deeper into the candidates for admission into their schools.  Cue the great big collective *gasp* for high school seniors and their parents around the world.

The reports found that “one-fourth of colleges surveyed indicated that they used a Web search or social networking technology to locate information about prospective students.”  What’s more, it also dug up some interesting habits that pertain to social networking.  Try this on for size:

• “More than half (53 percent) of colleges monitor social media for “buzz” about their school.”
• “33 percent of colleges maintain a blog, 29 percent maintain a presence on social networking Web sites, 27 percent maintain message- or bulletin-boards, 19 percent use video blogging, and 14 percent issue podcasts. 39 percent of colleges surveyed reported using no social media technology.”
• ” 88 percent of admission offices believed social media were either “somewhat” or “very” important to their future recruitment efforts”

Seems like we’re a far cry from the importance of the “Final Essay” on your application process.  Who knew that all those silly photos, videos and Wall Posts “can and will be held against you.”  Yikes.

(image via msnbc.com)