Instagram and Law School Forum

[Connor Benz]

So I have a instagram, about 90 pictures or so, and I was on it today and I haven't posted a picture in 15 weeks. I'm thinking if I should get rid of it. You know how employers try to find you on social media now to pre-screen you for interviews. I'm thinking as a law student, would Instragram be beneficial as opposed to Linkedin or facebook? And how many of you guys have instagram and is actively active on it?

I figured, who wants to see my pictures. I have no social life. If I do posts pictures it would be of my books, me on the library, my books again, me in class maybe, classmates, The Cornell Mascot and I...shit like that

[Carlo Von Sexron]

Well, if your Instagram page consists solely of sad reflections of your lack of a life outside of law school, then it might be the perfect marketing tool for that biglaw job you just know will make you whole as a person. Keep it.

[rebexness]

Probably you should just make all of your social media private, like a normal person.

[ManoftheHour]

lol, InsTTTagram.

[O Captain My Captain]

What is Social Media?

[rinkrat19]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

[ManoftheHour]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

This. So much this. Also:

lol, InsTTTagram.

[Hotguy]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

Instagram is pretty cool actually. Just set it to private.

[rinkrat19]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

Instagram is pretty cool actually. Just set it to private.

There are plenty of camera apps that do all the same effects plus more, with no need to upload the image to process.

[Hotguy]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

Instagram is pretty cool actually. Just set it to private.

There are plenty of camera apps that do all the same effects plus more, with no need to upload the image to process.

That's not all that there is to it. The sharing aspect of it is what makes it cool.

[rinkrat19]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.

Instagram is pretty cool actually. Just set it to private.

There are plenty of camera apps that do all the same effects plus more, with no need to upload the image to process.

That's not all that there is to it. The sharing aspect of it is what makes it cool.

If you're sharing with friends, post to facebook. If you're sharing with strangers, nobody cares what you ate for lunch.

[Hotguy]

You should get rid of your instagram because instagram is stupid.

As for other social media, just don't post retarded things (a good clue is if it involves lots of alcohol or nudity) and don't express extremist opinions (e.g. quit that Stormfront guest blogging gig). It's really not that hard.
Instagram is pretty cool actually. Just set it to private.

There are plenty of camera apps that do all the same effects plus more, with no need to upload the image to process.

That's not all that there is to it. The sharing aspect of it is what makes it cool.

If you're sharing with friends, post to facebook. If you're sharing with strangers, nobody cares what you ate for lunch.

Facebook is too mainstream. IG is catching up, but isn't so bad right now.

[McGruff]

If you're sharing with friends, post to facebook. If you're sharing with strangers, nobody cares what you ate for lunch.

Whytf would a stranger be looking at someone's lunch-posting instagram profile if they don't care what that person had for lunch? Unfollow them or don't creep, but either way if you don't care and you aren't friends with them, why are you looking at their page?

Please excuse the rant but this is a pet peeve of mine: the "no one cares what you ate for breakfast" criticism of social media is, in addition to being about as boomerish as it gets, an unbecoming and not universally accurate projection of your own unpopularity. It's also based on a misconception of how young people are using these things in the first place. There are lots of people whose breakfast posts do interest friends and strangers and elicit comments/favorites/likes/virtual validation, believe it or not. There are people with lots of followers (pre-teen girls are a good example of this) who constantly post banal updates about what they're eating/wearing/watching/thinking. Real trivial shit, you know? No doubt you don't care what they ate for breakfast, but if you go on instagram and look at a whole shitton of (young people's) accounts, you'll find that some users do.

Keep in mind that, in terms of how we use technology to interact with our peers, you and I hail from a different world entirely than these Junior High twitterers/snapchat/ask.fm folk. Perhaps texting is different for you than for your grandparents? You don't need to proof your texts, you don't worry about punctuation, you don't worry if the lingo/abbreviations you're using are proper, but your grandparents might. They simply haven't communicated that way as much and consequently they aren't as comfortable with the medium. This is true of kids and social media. For (some of) us, it's a correspondence, but for young people it's a conversation and as such they treat it as liberally as we would a verbal conversation. If I wrote you a PM and said "Dear rinkrat, today I made pumpkin pancakes. They were delicious." it would strike you as odd, but if we were friends, just hanging out irl, and I mentioned it in conversation, I don't think it would seem nearly as weird. The rules of conversation aren't nearly so strict as those of correspondence. In a conversation, I can just mention something on a whim, and it's not the end of the world if not everyone finds it interesting. Texting in particular is conversational (faster, slangier, lower standards of expected interest) for young people, but social media are too. You'd never say that a subject shouldn't be discussed in verbal conversation because no one could ever find it interesting, but that's exactly what your position equates to for a LOT of young people who use social media differently.

True, these media have risks that these young people might not appreciate and there are differences between them (and your cautious position may well be the prudent one) but, while you can argue about the pros and cons of recording every little thing, that's a totally different debate than whether or not people will care if you do.

[ManoftheHour]

If you're sharing with friends, post to facebook. If you're sharing with strangers, nobody cares what you ate for lunch.

Whytf would a stranger be looking at someone's lunch-posting instagram profile if they don't care what that person had for lunch? Unfollow them or don't creep, but either way if you don't care and you aren't friends with them, why are you looking at their page?

Please excuse the rant but this is a pet peeve of mine: the "no one cares what you ate for breakfast" criticism of social media is, in addition to being about as boomerish as it gets, an unbecoming and not universally accurate projection of your own unpopularity. It's also based on a misconception of how young people are using these things in the first place. There are lots of people whose breakfast posts do interest friends and strangers and elicit comments/favorites/likes/virtual validation, believe it or not. There are people with lots of followers (pre-teen girls are a good example of this) who constantly post banal updates about what they're eating/wearing/watching/thinking. Real trivial shit, you know? No doubt you don't care what they ate for breakfast, but if you go on instagram and look at a whole shitton of (young people's) accounts, you'll find that some users do.

Keep in mind that, in terms of how we use technology to interact with our peers, you and I hail from a different world entirely than these Junior High twitterers/snapchat/ask.fm folk. Perhaps texting is different for you than for your grandparents? You don't need to proof your texts, you don't worry about punctuation, you don't worry if the lingo/abbreviations you're using are proper, but your grandparents might. They simply haven't communicated that way as much and consequently they aren't as comfortable with the medium. This is true of kids and social media. For (some of) us, it's a correspondence, but for young people it's a conversation and as such they treat it as liberally as we would a verbal conversation. If I wrote you a PM and said "Dear rinkrat, today I made pumpkin pancakes. They were delicious." it would strike you as odd, but if we were friends, just hanging out irl, and I mentioned it in conversation, I don't think it would seem nearly as weird. The rules of conversation aren't nearly so strict as those of correspondence. In a conversation, I can just mention something on a whim, and it's not the end of the world if not everyone finds it interesting. Texting in particular is conversational (faster, slangier, lower standards of expected interest) for young people, but social media are too. You'd never say that a subject shouldn't be discussed in verbal conversation because no one could ever find it interesting, but that's exactly what your position equates to for a LOT of young people who use social media differently.

True, these media have risks that these young people might not appreciate and there are differences between them (and your cautious position may well be the prudent one) but, while you can argue about the pros and cons of recording every little thing, that's a totally different debate than whether or not people will care if you do.

lol

[ManoftheHour]

FB > TTumblr > TTTwitter > InsTTTTagram.

No guy I know uses InsTTTTagram. I guess it's okay if you're a girl.

Facebook is the HYS of social media.

Also:

You don't need to proof your texts, you don't worry about punctuation, you don't worry if the lingo/abbreviations you're using are proper

That's TTT, dude.

[Connor Benz]

Well, Im just asking because I don't know if it would be professional to have on as a practicing attorney, regardless of what kind of pictures you post and what not. I think about the Trayvon Martin case where opposing counsel took a picture on IG eating ice cream with his daughter and how that photo received backlash because of the comments. Furthermore, firms scour through social media to screen candidates these days. I feel like if they find you on IG, and they don't like what they see, there goes your interview.

[ManoftheHour]

Well, Im just asking because I don't know if it would be professional to have on as a practicing attorney, regardless of what kind of pictures you post and what not. I think about the Trayvon Martin case where opposing counsel took a picture on IG eating ice cream with his daughter and how that photo received backlash because of the comments. Furthermore, firms scour through social media to screen candidates these days. I feel like if they find you on IG, and they don't like what they see, there goes your interview.

Eh, if you are even questioning it, just deactivate it. I'd just make all accounts private and not use my real name. If you still feel unsafe, just deactivate. Social media is fun and all, but it's not worth costing you any interviews.

[Yazzzay]

Well that ice cream photo was on a whole new level of stupidity.

I don't see how incriminating instagram can be? Unless you're posting pics of you doing illegal things, no harm no foul. But also why would you use your real name, just change it. I wouldn't worry about this...

[wiz]

Instagram is the shit. It lets me take professional-quality photos and share them with my instagram friends. Don't listen to the boomers who tell you to get rid of it.

[rinkrat19]

professional-quality photos

no.

[wiz]

professional-quality photos

no.

(sarcasm)

[rinkrat19]

professional-quality photos

no.

(sarcasm)

ok, my b