Students - use this summer for a social media clean-up Julie Bishop, founder of JobHop.co.uk, says that one of the first things that employers do, prior to interview, will be to check out any candidates online, "Your personal online branding is very important. Employers will look at what groups you're part of, the photographs you've been tagged in, and comments you've made on other people's blogs; negative feedback you've left can really go against you. It was with this in mind that, a few weeks ago, I undertook a summer Facebook detox myself; de-tagging all images that could leave me open to social media criticism in the future. Aside from a few exceptions from high school, most of the images I de-tagged were from university. Becca Djan, an MA student from London, made all her Facebook pictures private whilst studying for her first degree, "When you go to university, people tag you indiscriminately in pictures, even if the picture is awful. I was worried about being judged by people who barely knew me. "I just don't think you can ever be totally sure about who's looking," she continued. Bar getting rid of Facebook completely, blocking sections of your profile that you want to keep private is the best idea. For students who are about to start university in September and are thinking about their future careers and possible internships, this summer is the time to clean up your online presence. For a start, try googling yourself - even more of a priority if you have a fairly distinctive name. It may seem egotistical, but it will help show you what employers will see if they search for you. In the case of Facebook, any information that you publish using the public setting allows anyone to access and use that information. For Twitter users this is exactly the same. If public, your tweets and profile will be visible by search engines. Signing up to protect your tweets means that what you publish will only be visible to your approved followers. However, it's important to remember that if your profile has ever been public, then even if you have changed your account to protected, the tweets you made before making the change will still be visible. It's unlikely that one photo will go against you, but whether you're a regular tweeter, a blogger, or frequently update your Facebook, it's worth making sure you're leaving the right online impression before university.