As students, employees and employers, social media is a very important part of both our personal and professional lives. Personally, we use it to connect with family and friends and express our individualization, but professionally it is a way to network, advertise and promote oneself or one's business. That means that while we are creating our identity we must also act in a way that suits our profession. It is important to maintain a professional public image at all times especially on social media platforms which can be viewed globally. Social media is a powerful tool but can also very destructive if not used properly. Throughout my life, I have witnessed people trying to express their individualities and ideas through social media. Often many people express themselves as a result of their own sudden and temporary emotions. While these outbursts seem harmless at first, not affecting your personal life, it can end up affecting your professional life. Many times employers will keep a close watch of the online actions of their employees. As a child of the millennial generation, I have grown up around the web my entire life. This includes the many different social media platforms. Which means that I see the importance of carefully monitoring my activities on social media and other online websites, like blogs.

The first article, "Hazards of an Online Life," claims that lawyers cannot ignore the uses of social media for their clients and themselves, giving three crucial components of social media that cannot be ignored. The first component is that social media is a virtual web-based community. It exists online but it is not separate from the real world, or as the article says, "in real life." Mistakes that are made online lead to issues that begin to affect real life, including public harassment, job loss, and threats. The second component is the use of social media as a tool to reach people and businesses. The third component the use of social media to publish and view opinions and advertising. The article was written by two lawyers that specialize in cases dealing with social media. Allowing them to have relevant advice for readers.

 "Here We Are Now, Entertain Us" approaches the issue of the ever-changing impact of online behavior and results of this behavior. It claims there should be limitations an employer's control over the social media activity and speech of an employee that will not affect the company's branding. The article looks at the history social media and how it evolved into what it has become. It then discusses the relationship between social media and employment and the laws associated. The author is a professor of law at John Marshal law school, specializing in Internet & Society at Harvard. This makes her highly qualified to address the situation of both social media and the legal issues related to employment.

"The Web Means the End of Forgetting," addresses the issue of privacy on the web, especially in the case of social media. Rosen uses examples like Stacey Snyder, a woman whose life was completely changed due to a picture she posted, captioned "Drunken Pirate." These examples help Rosen make his case more relevant to readers since they are average, everyday people affected by the issues we now all face. Rosen focuses his article on the idea that the web can "never forget," because anything that is posted is saved and shared throughout the web. The issue of privacy is a major piece of evidence that Rosen addresses and he consider whether or not there should laws for web privacy. He also confronts the idea that this type of public posting will eventually become the norm and how we as employees and employers will deal with it. Rosen is a writer for a well-known newspaper, New York Times and has written several articles on the effects of media. The New York Times magazine is also well-known for providing accurate and well-written articles.

The question, how does social media affect people's personal and professional lives, argues whether your professional life should be affected by your personal one especially in the case of social media. Some articles argue that privacy is an important part of not allowing personal lives and professional lives to mix on social while others see social media as a tool of branding and, therefore, should be professional. Through these different arguments, I am given plenty of evidence to make my own decision of whether people should be given privacy or act professionally. I would need more example cases of social media affecting personal and professional lives helping me make my case since it seems that each individual case has different factors that help determine it.

