The internet has been flooded with news and speculation surrounding the Penn State scandal. Everyone is talking about it, even celebrities. In case you missed it, Ashton Kutcher had a serious foot-in-mouth situation when he tweeted, “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.” He apparently had not been informed of the situation and later deleted the tweet and apologized. Ashton has since turned over his twitter account to his managers.

Then we had the #LadiesWeWantAnswers trending topic issue where there were a lot of pretty offensive and stupid questions asked. I was blown away by some of the tweets I read. There are some people who would be really embarrassed if their boss or grandmother saw their tweets. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them got in trouble for it.

It got me thinking about Twitter etiquette. There are some snarky things that I really want to tweet, but stop myself because I think about if my future employers are going to see it. So I thought we should go over some basic Twitter rules.

Grammar: Just because you only have 140 characters does not mean the laws of grammar go out the window. You should still use proper grammar as much as possible because you’ll look like a fool if you don’t. Know the difference between your (possessive) and you’re (you are), their (possessive), they’re (they are), and there (place). While abbreviations are wonderful, please take the characters to spell out you instead of “u”. Text speak isn’t cool anymore.

Pictures: Twitpics are awesome for showing your followers what you’re up to. However, stick to appropriate photos. There’s no need to tweet pictures of your cleavage or your butt (I’m talking to you Coco). We really don’t want another Anthony Weiner problem on our timelines. If you’re going to send sexy pictures, don’t do it online.

Don’t be a jerk: Some of the funniest tweets are pretty mean, but they’re often from anonymous accounts like @Lord_Voldemort7. If you’re using your real name and your tweets aren’t protected, it’s in your best interest to keep it classy. If you really want to be a sassypants then create an account under a pseudonym, and go for it.

Don’t tweet about people: Someone from class or work really irked you today, so you decide to post a passive-aggressive tweet about them or what they did because you know they’re following you and will see it. This is a bad idea. The other person will see said tweet, which will only create more drama for yourself. Or someone else will see your tweet and think it’s about them, which will also create more drama. Avoid this.

Don’t air your dirty laundry: Twitter is not your diary. Sure I’ve posted about having a bad day, but I don’t spill my life story and neither should you. You don’t need to tweet about every single thing going on in your life, just like you don’t need to constantly update your Facebook statuses.

Twitter and other social media outlets are great, but use them wisely. With social media being so prominent, employers are checking to see what you’re up to. It’s best to keep things clean to avoid any issues. You don’t want to get called into your boss’s office because you tweeted something inappropriate.

God bless smartphones and Facebook. Where would our stalking abilities be today without those two? When our friends want to set us up with their hot friend, what’s the first question we ask? First and last name please! First impressions are no longer made in person, they happen through the Internet. Sad? Eh, maybe. But hey, much easier to weed ‘em out that way! If there’s zero potential for attraction or if the guy has “strip clubs” topping his list of interests, all I’m saying is that checking out his profile may save you from one miserable first date.

It’s obvious that technology makes the courting process easier, too. Being newly single for the past month, I’ve realized that every guy who has asked me out so far starts with Facebook. They send a message, we chat for a bit, they ask for my number, the messaging moves to texts and then finally we meet face-to-face. It may be a little depressing that a good ‘ol fashion, “Hi, would you like to go on a date with me?” is now considered creepy rather than endearing, but at least we’ve got some form of courting taking place these days! Read More »

Kate Middleton is named the queen of British fashion

Should we stop keeping up with the Kardashians?

Social media’s somewhat negative effect on relationships

Scarlett Johansson opens up about about the nude photo scandal

Lilo gets her teeth fixed!

Superman is looking mighty fine

Can your f-buddy become your boyfriend?

Pairing ankle boots with a black jacket

Breaking up with your bffle

A little while ago, we conducted The Most Epic Facebook Survey Ever. We asked you guys about everything from how annoying sonogram photos in your newsfeed are, to how many of you have broken up with someone simply by changing your status. We also asked you about Facebook stalking (don’t act like you’ve never done it). If you took the survey, you’ll know that we asked you to define Facebook stalking.

And you guys gave us weird, creepy, hilarious and wacky answers. We learned that some of you are really weird and will probably be arrested soon if you continue your stalking ways, and we learned that some of you are practically undercover detectives when it comes to finding info on your crushes and exes.

Here are 50 ways you guys defined Facebook stalking. Read More »

#Winning, fellas.

Sure, it’s common for us college students to talk about our hookups, whether it’s the best you’ve ever had or some really embarrassing story. I share things with my girlfriends, and dudes discuss it all the time. Heck, we used to have Morning After posts specifically for that purpose, but those are full stories that aren’t degrading and gross. However, there’s a difference between sharing within your circle of friends and sharing it all over the internet via Texts From Last Night format.

Let me introduce you to the sheer brilliance of BootyDrop.com, founded “to develop a culture where users can have fun with the site, while still respecting people in the stories and other Booty Droppers.” I’m sorry, but you can’t seriously expect users on this site to respect each other or those in the stories when the whole purpose is to basically degrade and embarrass said people in said stories. When explaining what a Booty Drop is, founders Matthew Weaver and Kevin Lance state, “Let’s be honest. Attending college was never about the education anyway. It’s about hooking up. You tell your friends the next day, but why stop there? Instead tell the world, anonymously.” Are you kidding me?! I’d love to have that conversation with my parents… “Hey Mom and Dad, I know you’ve been spending an ungodly amount of money on my college education, but I hope you know it’s really about me hooking up.” College is definitely about education, and those who don’t think so are probably the ones taking the Van Wilder route and failing their classes. Read More »

Lesson #35 – Girl Talk can kill your dating life

Sometimes as a single girl in college it feels like your dating life is split in two halves—one spent actually dating guys and the other spent in coffee shops with your girlfriends talking about dating said guys. So if half of our dating world is actually spent dating, what exactly is the other half spent on? I’d say probably too many lattes and not enough sensible advice. I’m as guilty as the next girl. I say I don’t want to talk about something and sure enough 20 minutes later, my friends have pulled it out of me and now I’ve somehow connected something as minute as my guy not noticing my new slingbacks to his daddy issues that I’ve now taken the liberty of convincing myself he has, even though he clearly doesn’t. So girls analyze their love lives, what’s new, right?

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So it’s no secret that the world of online dating has become increasingly more common. In fact 1/5 relationships now starts online. (At least that’s what Match.com claims.) But these are relationships,  you know the things that are about more than sex, the ones that don’t start out as the result of a night at the bar and beer goggles. I can understand the need for a way to sift through those less than stellar companions in the hopes of finding someone you can actually connect with. What I can’t understand is the need for a social networking site that is geared towards pursuing casual hookups.

But apparently the University of Chicago can. The site first launched a few weeks ago, under the name UChicagoHookups.com, “a place where fun comes to thrive.” But since then, the site has gained more media attention and has been renamed EduHookups.com, allowing students from Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and soon Brown University, to register under a .edu email address, and search for hookups.

More than 300 people have registered for the site and over 1,300 private messages have been sent, but I have to ask, is this really necessary? I mean it’s college. Aren’t we always complaining that there’s nothing but casual hookups in college? Aren’t we saying that it’s difficult to find anything more than that? If that’s the case why do we need a website geared toward this? Isn’t this what bars and house parties are for? Will those become irrelevant now, too, with students no longer even bothering with the fun and the flirting and the cheesy pickup lines? Now we’ll just send people private messages and meet them in the appropriate dorm room?

I’m all about new media, but this seems like a bit much even for me. Is it too much to ask for a good old fashioned house party hookup?

When we think of social media sites, we think of one thing: Facebook. It’s where we post out status updates, where we post our pictures, and where we have obnoxiously long, unnecessary commenting wars with our BFFs. It’s the perfect way to stay in touch, and the perfect way to procrastinate. In our eyes, it’s perfect. (Despite its many, many issues with privacy settings.)

But I’ve got news for you ladies. Facebook is not the only social media site out there. And, no, I’m not just talking about MySpace of Friendster, those sites you haven’t visited since junior high. I’m talking about up and coming, entertaining, totally worth your time, social media sites. These are my top five picks.

1. Twitter. Every girl should be on Twitter. And you don’t even have to Tweet to make it worth your while; you just have to follow. Follow who? Anyone from Charlie Sheen to the New York Times to College Candy! Your home page is constantly updated with little 140 character bits of goodness. From links to the hottest articles to what your favorite celeb ate for breakfast, Twitter has it all. With instantaneous updates!

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Hey ladies, this is me reminding you to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight. Because it’s daylight saving time and we’re losing an hour (Spring ahead. Fall back. That’s how I always remember it.), and if you forget to make the change that means you’ll miss MTV’s rerun of Thursday night’s episode of Jersey Shore, and you’ll just be really, super disoriented for the whole day.

But that’s not even the worst part, the worst part is that we really are losing an hour. One whole hour of our lives! Granted, we’ll get it back in the fall, but I don’t want it back in the fall. I want it now! I mean, I had plans! Big plans, I was going to… Read More »

Okay ladies, so here’s something you didn’t know.

People are looking at your social networking profiles.

Shocked, right? Not so much? Yeah, I thought so. But you might actually be shocked to find out that 80% of admissions officers are now using Facebook to learn more about their applicants, and that a student’s social media presence does in fact affect their decisions.

As a way to counteract this, some admissions officers suggest that applicants like or follow their college of choice on Facebook or Twitter and use the social network as a way to stand out amongst applicants. But would you really want your potential college to have access to everything you post on Facebook? And should they really expect to? When you post something on the internet publicly you have to expect that people will read it. But should you expect that your college admissions officer will be searching for it? Should you expect that every college admissions officer is going to Facebook stalk every applicant now?

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