This past weekend, CollegeCandy had the opportunity to fly out to the Adobe Headquarters to learn all about the new Creative Suite 6. There are a lot of super cool features that are new to CS6, including a Creative Cloud option where you pay a monthly student-friendly rate and have access to all the entire suite of programs online. Pretty neat — and affordable — right? Yup, we thought so too.

So this got us thinking. What are some ways all students, not just design students, can benefit from CS6? Facebook, the great unifier, duh! Check out these tips on how to make your profile picture and albums instantly cooler by using CS6 and a little extra creative thinking!

initiating the gallery...

[Lead image via Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock]

Today we’d like to shout out to our amazing Facebook wall photos. Why, you ask? Umm…because have you seen them? We are literally bringing LOLz into the lives of thousands of our followers. If your newsfeed is clogged with engagement announcements (too real), sonogram photos (waaay to real), public break-ups and drunken proclamations of “OMG BEST NIGHT EVER GIRLSSSS,” then it’s time to integrate some CC sarcasm.

Seriously. Have you even thought about how many of your friends are going to be receiving pimped out new cars/engagement rings/signed Twilight posters/herpes this holiday season…and documenting every last detail? In preparation, you might as well just “Like” us now and ensure yourself at least one screen cap of Mean Girls and more than a few cute puppy pics over the next few weeks. Who wants to see Jill’s new convertible anyway? You’ve got CC wall photos to click through!

Community funny man Donald Glover really knows how to practice what he preaches. While out and about, he’s never too busy to stop and pose for photos with his adoring fans; something us common folk really like about a celebrity!

We did a little research and, okay, fine, a little Facebook stalking too and we realized just how personable and cool Donald really is off the screen.

Since he doubles as a rapper, going by the moniker Childish Gambino, we figured that Glover would be overworked and less than enthused by his adorers but surprisingly, it’s just the opposite! Fans went crazy when he asked them to start tweeting #donald4spiderman to see how quickly social media could spread the word.

While we were Facebook stalking, we thought we’d share a few photos that showed us just how important Glover’s fans are to him, proving to us once again that not all celebrities are sucky and self-absorbed!

Well done, Donald, well done!

On Friday, Facebook will become owner of the publishing rights of all your private photos, which means they could do whatever they want with them. Use them in ads. (Imagine a picture of you partying with your peeps on a billboard.) Show them to the world when you become famous. Send them to your boss when you complain about Facebook while on Facebook…

You get the idea. If Facebook owned the rights to your photos it would be bad. Really bad. But you can prevent this. And it will only take a few moments of you time. Just follow the simple instructions below and then pass the information on to all of your friends that have pictures of you. Especially pictures of you from Spring Break. Or tailgates. Or Halloween. Or, well, just everyone, OK?

1. Go to account on the upper right corner of your Facebook.

2. Then click on account settings.

3. Then go to Facebook Ads, the last tab along the top.

4. Then choose edit third party ad settings.

5. Select no one from the drop down.

Then just save and you’re done. You and your Facebook photos are safe. Phew. That was a close one.

Those lovable bros over at BroBible.com have once again attempted to tarnish the sterling facades us girls put up just to please them (riiiight…).  The latest topic up for debate: The 15 Most Common Ways Girls Try to Look Hotter on Facebook. From butts out to boobs smooshed, they’re calling us out on all our “tricks” of the online trade.

Well guys, a little of our own light research has gone a long way.  Turns out you’re guilty of posting some overused, Brolicious pics yourselves.  Need proof?  Just go through your tagged photos and see if you’re guilty of any of these thirteen major offenses:

[Click on any image to view the gallery.]

Would you say goodbye to the FB?

Back in the ages of early social media, I turned to Facebook to find as many friends as I could before I went to college my freshman year. “Hey [insert name here], it says you are living in [insert dormitory here], like, OMG let’s meet up and do our laundry together or something!”

Facebook was there for all my major college needs, and I quickly came to depend on the status update to let people know I was really fun/cool/endearing, busily tagged myself in pictures, and coyly searched for the cute boy in my Spanish class…

Then things started to change.

The mom friend request. The 13-year-old sister friend request. The 13-year-old sister’s friend’s friend request. The sparkly new mini-feed, which loaded itself and pressured me into talking to people on Facebook I forgot I was friends with. (“Bill is lonely. Reconnect!” Um, Facebook? Chill your jets, Bill is lonely because he peed his bed Sunday morning after our first football home game.) And now, Facebook is begging you to check in with Facebook Places.

Oh, goody.
And by “goody” I mean, “WTF IS YOUR DEAL, FACEBOOK?!”

I can’t count how many times I wanted to meet the people who were changing the online community I had built, take them by the shoulders and shake the ‘idiot’ right out of them. How many times I drew a line in the sand and threatened to say goodbye to FB forever.

But would I really?

Well, that option is becoming reality as a barrage new social networks come our way. One of which will give us the opportunity to go back to the way things were so many years ago: college kids only.

An original Facebook supporter has invested in a new social site called CollegeOnly. And yes, the name of the site says it all: it’s restricted to college kids only, peeps.  And it does not plan on expanding or offering access to a non-college student demographic.  CollegeOnly will focus solely on the privacy of college kids and the freedom to not worry about future bosses seeing those pictures you were tagged in after power hour. A silly promotional picture for CollegeOnly even states, “I like your mom, but why is she poking me?” High-larious!

Sounds pretty great, right? Seems like a good enough reason to pack your bags tagged pictures and make the switch. But really, would you?

Although CollegeOnly sounds like an awesome place to spend a healthy chunk of my free time (because the privacy rules are the bomb.com), I’m having a difficult time (and experiencing pre-separation anxiety) seeing myself switch over. Even with all of my FB pet peeves. I’ve invested so much time into Facebook – building my network, loading my photos, coming up with witty status updates that people “like”… Do I really want to start all over again, even if it meant that my great aunt Ethel wouldn’t see my Pimps and Ho’s party photos??

What do you think?
Would you make the switch to CollegeOnly? Or does Facebook, despite all its downfalls, have a special (and permanent) place in your heart?

It happens every day.  You log onto Facebook and are confronted with a stream of photos and status updates.  Megan’s going to the mall.  Ben’s fishing with his dad.  Oh, and what’s this?  Chris put his dog in boxers and made it drink beer out of a Frisbee last night.  Here’s hoping he isn’t friends with anyone who works for the ASPCA.

Simply put, people post dumb pictures.  We tend to forget that Facebook is a public place and that often times employers, teachers, and police have access to more things than we think.

If your back-to-campus plan involves drinking, sleeping, hooking up, or any host of questionable activities, here are the pictures you’re better off keeping to yourself:

The Coyote Ugly

The pic of you dancing on the bar the night before you called in sick to your 8 a.m. needs to remain offline. Chances are a TA, professor, or peeved classmate will see it and rat you out.  And really, that’s the least of your problems.  Have you ever seen an actual picture of someone dancing on the bar?  Usually it’s taken from ground level, six inches away from your legs.  This means crotch shots, the underside of your chin(s) and nose, out of proportion ankles that have now become cankles…need I go on?

The Stop, Drop, and Roll

That filthy gutter looks super comfy, no wonder you fell asleep in it while wearing your roommate’s favorite jacket.  She’ll know that “water spot” is really a grease stain from some homeless man’s pizza as soon as she catches a glimpse of you channeling Loca Lohan.  Keeping it off Facebook means keeping roommate relations peaceful.

The “How long can you hold your breath?”

Unless you’re looking for a job as a pearl diver in some third world country, there’s really no reason to show off how long you can go without coming up for air.  The intense PDA pictures need find their way onto your wall of shame, not your Facebook wall.

The Phelps

I’m amazed at how many people think they can get away with posting bong pictures online.  It was posted from your account.  That is your face coming out of a cloud of smoke, no?  And that most definitely is your stupid grin and bloodshot eyes.  So why so surprised when the Office of Student Affairs tries to bust you for having drugs in the dorm?

The Leann Rimes

Does your boyfriend know you were making out with some other dude last night?  Post it on Facebook and he’ll find out soon enough.

The Sam Ronson

Does your boyfriend know you were making out with some other chick last night?  See above.  (Note: May result in relentless threesome propositions.)

Anything involving babies and recreating scenes from The Hangover.

You are not the female Bradley Cooper.  That kid’s name isn’t really Carlos, regardless of how you tag the photo.  Put the baby down and slowly walk away before you’re graduating from the State Pen instead of state college.

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

Two weeks without logging in to Facebook and I still have a pulse. This is a very, very, VERY good sign!

My second week Facebook-free has gone surprisingly well. I’ve even managed to convince a bunch of people to come along this journey with me. (Editor’s Note: Who ARE these people!?) It seems that I’m not the only one who has become emotionally and physically dependent on a website.

I feel your pain, fellow addicts. Let it all out. This is a judgment-free zone.

With classes starting back up in ten days (Is this real life?) and having to move back into my apartment in less than a week, I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and sort through my email… let alone stalk friends-of-friends-of-friends. And I’ve barely missed it.

But maybe it’s because I’ve continued to fill this Faceboook-induced void with multiple pairs of shoes and tons of new outfits. (I’ve spent a lot of time at the gym too! I need to look good in these new clothes.) Isn’t that what always happens? People replace one addiction with another? Yeah, I’ve got a ridonk new wardrobe, but now there’s a void in both my wallet and my heart.

I’ll tackle budgeting my time and my money next month.

Despite that little binge, overall I just feel relieved. Independent. The obligation of answering a wall-post or responding to someone harassing me through Facebook chat is gone. As are the hours upon hours of wasted time stalking someone’s pictures or constantly refreshing the Newsfeed. If someone really needs to talk to me, they should have my phone number. If not, we aren’t really friends… and why are you creeping on my photo albums (Okay. Pot. Kettle.).

My goal from this whole experience was to learn to live my own life, not continue to watch people live theirs through their profile pages. And so far, it’s working. Even if it’s costing me a ton of money….

We’ll see what happens next week when I’m itching to post pictures of me living my own life. In my new wardrobe.

1. Dating
After you make out with a guy, do you friend request him? If so, how long do you wait? What about that cute boy in your lecture? Will he think it’s weird that you know his last name? Do you write on his wall? If he doesn’t write back, is he not interested? OMG, he “likes” your status, what does that mean!?  With all this virtual interpretation, there’s hardly time for a real date (or more realistically, a real romp-in-the-hay).

2. Your GPA
I know I’m not the only one that spends more time Facebook creeping in the library than actually studying, and term papers take much longer when you’re logging in to check your News Feed after every paragraph. Especially when that News Feed says “(insert ex’s name here) is in a relationship.” Cue mental breakdown and tears. In the library. Do you see where I’m going with this?

3. Friendships
When we can keep in touch with our friends via wall-to-walls and see what’s going on in their lives from status updates, it’s easy to forget that weekly phone call. Then when you’re finally home for summer together, it seems like you haven’t actually talked in ages. Because you haven’t.

4. Family TMI
Somewhere along the way, adults mistakenly determined it was okay for them to have Facebook too. So that status you posted about your 58 second keg stand? Yeah, Grandma saw that. And that wildly inappropriate TFLN your BFF put on your wall because it totally applies to you? Auntie Deb saw that too. And if you “marry” your roomie on Facebook, get ready, because at Thanksgiving dinner you WILL be asked when you decided to become a lesbian.

5. Your Future
Some organizations have sneaky ways of getting around those privacy settings (if you remember to use them in the first place), and they will stalk you. Turns out those pictures of you funneling beers while getting a piggyback ride from a guy in a lacrosse pinny and the “I’m soo hungover” status updates don’t go over so well with the big boss man. Even if you’re the most responsible student ever, Facebook faux-pas can make you unemployable in an instant.

Every week I make a list. Not a grocery list or a to-do list…or that list, because I don’t really do groceries (there is a reason why they deliver pizza) and to-do lists are totally not my scene (if such a scene even exists) and, unfortunately, I haven’t added to that list in quite awhile.

No, this list is a top ten-style countdown about the hard-hitting issues, like which mash-ups are the best ever or which apps rock my world.

This week I’m focusing on the “click click flash” that consumes your weekend. You go out, someone inevitably breaks out the camera (every 4 minutes) and you start posing like you’re ready for the cover of Nylon. Great idea, but these pictures are going to end up on Facebook for the world to see the next day when you’re sober. Oof. And with today’s technology, you might be even caught in real time.

Who’s guilty?
Actually, who isn’t?

10. Self indulgent “Take one of just meeeee!”

You always think this one is a great idea. I’ll tell you something your friends (especially the one taking this photo) never will: it’s not a good idea. I promise you, it never is.

9. Drinking game picture

Congrats bro, you won a binge drinking game. Super rad!

8. Drunken girl-on-girl makeout

Your boyfriend? Not gonna be thrilled. Ok, so maybe he will, but did you forget that your great Aunt Frances is your FB friend?

7. Mirror Myspace look

Looking good with a giant flash obscuring you. Classic.

6. Obscene gesture… or action.

That’ll help you land your dream job.
Oh, and not looking at the camera does not make this photo look more natural or classy.

5. Passed out with Sharpie in your face

If you have one of these, your friends are jerks. If you have more than one of these, you seriously need help.

4. Drunken Photobooth?

Just, why? Was there really nothing better to do while you were buzzin’?

3. Nonfunctional drunkenness

Another big, fat “why?” How is this attractive? And who was the jerk who took this picture? And freaking sent it to all your friends? But, seriously, why did you decide to lay right there?

2. Pregaming

Since when is drinking in a tiny dorm room scrapbook material?

1. Pouty face, Peace sign

Overplayed.
ENOUGH SAID.