For many college students around the country, this is one of the last weekends of winter break — which means it’s the last time to have fun and party before the pressures of the school year start again. So what are you going to do to close it out with a bang? If you don’t have any plans yet, you should check out The Weekend Map for your closest city.

The Weekend Map helps you plan your weekend by searching sites like Meetup, Eventbrite, Songkick, Seatgeek, Active and Groupon to provide you with a comprehensive list of events for the upcoming weekend on a map of your chosen city (of 27 cities across the U.S.). The Weekend Map also color-codes them according to popularity, and you can refine the list according to certain parameters, for example, if you’re only interested in one type of event (i.e., concerts, food, sports games, etc.) or only events on a particular night (Friday, Saturday or Sunday).

Underneath the map you’ll find listings of all the events with all the important details, such as date, location and time, as well as a how many people have currently RSVP’d and a link to the event on its host site.

The Weekend Map will come in handy the rest of the year, too! Any weekend during the year when you don’t know what to do, just check it out and you instantly have plans!

When the almighty Facebook was first created, it was intended to be a network devoted to fostering connections with future classmates (and friends) at your future school. Fast forward a few years and Facebook is a melting pot for parents, preteens, companies, celebrities and anything else you can imagine Facebook connecting you to.

Remember when MySpace was cool?  Well, as is often said around the office: MySpace is the poor man’s Facebook. Or if that doesn’t work for you, how about this: MySpace is the pedophile’s Facebook. You might prefer one to the other but both get an A for being equally acceptable judgments. Although MySpace might take the cake for the invention of the duck-beak, kissy-face photos that girls just love to post as their default.

Moral of the story: When Facebook hit the scene, America nixed MySpace quicker than Ronnie could pass on Sammi. Read More »

Whether I’m talking on the phone and doing chores at the same time, or chatting on Facebook, doing schoolwork, and watching Glee, I’m always multi-tasking — which is why I like things that make my life easier.

Float helps with that by conveniently putting all my favorite web content all in one place. Now I don’t need to have separate tabs open for Facebook, Twitter, and my favorite blogs and websites.

To start using Float, connect with Facebook and/or Twitter to access those accounts, read news and magazines and discover new content from posts from your friends that are also using Float. Add your favorite websites and blogs to receive content from that onto your page as well. Read More »

Consider your profile picture your viral handshake. Why, you ask? Let’s just say that, like a firm grip, the little image leaves a lasting impression. See the following scenarios to be sure you select the most flattering photo for you.

1. So… You party

Like most people, you enjoy a nice night out. The question is: How much of your party-animal personality should be reflected in your profile picture? To narrow your choices, rule out any photos with red cups and wasted faces. And, before you upload, ask yourself: What would Mom think of this? If it would make her stomach roll, pick a different one.

2. So… You’re in a relationship

We get it: You’re in love. But as cute as you two are, no one wants to see your personal pictures. Make people say “aw”—not “ew”—when viewing your page. This means no profile pictures of you making out with your boyfriend. Keep bedroom play in the bedroom instead of at your friends’ fingertips. Read More »

Facebook and Twitter have just about taken over the world at this point. Almost every company in the world wants you to “like” them and I’ve yet to find any blog that isn’t covered in “tweet this” buttons. With this social media monopoly in full swing, it seems strange as to why anyone would try to challenge the virtual throne.

…Unless that someone is Google. In 2004 when Facebook was just starting to quietly kill a few Myspace accounts, Google offered to buy it, but was turned down. Their first social networking site, Google Wave, was basically a fail. Fast forward to 2007 when Google decided to try to convince Mark that selling out was the way to go. This rejection was the birth of Google +: the social networking site no one ever saw coming.

So what sets Google + apart from Facebook and Twitter? Well, just like any social networking site, you set up your profile with pictures and interests, but that’s just about the only thing Google + has in common with any other site.

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[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Facebook…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (likeRescueTime, Bake It In a Cake and Jog.FM) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

Any of your professors, parents, or alumni friends (or CollegeCandy’s editor!) will tell you that one of the most important things you can do in college to help you get a job after graduation is networking. Establishing solid relationships with your professors, peers, and alumni in your field can lead to opportunities that might not otherwise be open to you.

So you set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and add everyone you meet in order to expand your social network (and hopefully your real-life network, as well). Now, that’s all great, but it means nothing if you don’t maintain those relationships!

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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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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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So…here’s the thing.

I am a big fan of social networking. Huge. Some might call me an addict. Facebook. Twitter. The internet in general. You don’t spend your time blogging, tweeting, and updating all day if you’re not a fan of the internet. But even I have to admit that sometimes being a product of the Facebook generation has its faults.

Just look at what happened to Natalie Munroe, the Central Bucks High School English teacher, who was suspended after posting degrading comments about her students on a personal blog. And now, she’s all over the internet, and not in a good way. Munroe posted the comments over a year ago, but the blog was recently discovered when someone posted it on a Facebook page and eventually one of the parents turned it into the school.

Munroe claims that she never imagined that anyone would actually read what she wrote. But they did. And now she’s one of the biggest stories of the week. The blog has since been taken down. But the quotes and comments still live on. And that’s the most important part to remember, I think, for our generation, at least.

We’re a generation of oversharers (and if you think you’re not, think again). We lack boundaries. People post about everything from their bathroom habits to their sexcapades without giving it a second thought. But what happens when someone reads that comment about your horrible boss and shows it to said horrible boss? Or when you tell your friend you’re home sick and then post pictures of yourself with your boyfriend two hours later? How many times do you update your Facebook a day? Probably more than you realize. We do it without even thinking about it. Everything that happens has to be shared. It’s part of who we are. It’s part of what we do. But now we need to think about how what we do on the internet will affect what we do in real life.

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