With social-networking services, personal and professional contacts know what you're doing, when you're doing it

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - When Stephanie Sherwood graduated from Texas Christian University, she went looking for a job with a time-tested approach: She tapped her network. The line of attack wasn't new.

But the medium was.

Instead of harassing college professors, friends of her parents or bosses from internships, Sherwood changed her status message _ a quick update that's viewable by anyone in her online social network _ to indicate that she was looking for a job.

Within a few hours, one of her connections in Boston had sent Sherwood a message saying her company had an opening and that she'd like a copy of her resume.

Sherwood got the job.

The status update is a cousin to instant messaging away messages. Think of it as an ever-evolving e-mail signature. The messages are short and can run the gamut from "Jason just left me" to "I love the sunshine!"

In an increasingly wired world, the status message has become one more way to make that check-in phone call. Think of it as a virtually scribbled note taped to the fridge. It's the easiest way to tell everyone you know _ or everyone you're linked to online _ "I'm still alive." In 15 words, it's a way to tell what's happening in your little corner of the world.

Some users change their status messages several times a day. Others rarely, if ever, change them.

The idea caught fire with the popularity of the social-networking site Facebook, which is structured so that when a user logs in, he automatically sees links, profile updates and, yes, status changes made by anyone in his network.

Then came Twitter, a microblogging service that enables users to follow one another and receive a steady stream of virtual chatter.

To some, the status message can seem trivial. How much can you say in 140 characters?

But Facebook and Twitter devotees know that status updates can be a small but clear window into the personal lives of friends and family.

Molly McIntyre, a sophomore studying nutrition science at TCU, says she checks Facebook at least 15 times a day. She reads her friends' status updates to keep track of the mundane day-to-day details she misses.

"It keeps you from having to ask those boring questions when you talk to people you haven't talked to in awhile. You have that background information already," she says.

She stays on top of friends' moods and gauges when a friend might need a phone call. Or when not to call.

The ability to get quick, regular reads on friends she doesn't see regularly, she says, allows her to maintain relationships that might otherwise falter.

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Keith Whitworth, a sociology professor at TCU, says this trend reflects the connected lives of today's young people. Responses to the updates, she says, give a sense of social support.

"The status message is a means to be able to connect with the members of the secondary social network," he says. "It's a means of communicating to the masses."

McIntyre says she keeps her updates general _ "Molly's headed to the library for the third time in 24 hours." But she and Sherwood say friends post things like, "I'm so depressed today," and "I'm so mad at so and so."

And, while you're not likely to learn that your best friend's boyfriend popped the question via Facebook, McIntyre and Sherwood say they've learned of friends' breakups and engagements thanks to the site.

Frequent Facebook users say the relationship option _ which allows people to be single, in a relationship with, engaged to or married to other users _ has opened up a whole new set of dating pitfalls.

"It's become a joke," McIntyre says. "People will say, 'Oh, you're dating. But are you Facebook official?'"

There's the expectation that the information will be shared, whether you want it to be or not. Deciding when to change the status of the relationship "is stressful," McIntyre says. "You're putting it all out there, and you can't take it back."

New York-based trendspotter Marian Salzman says it isn't surprising that people are taking advantage of ever more ways to share information.

"We're so much more public about posting everything now," she says. "We'll post our breakups, our pictures. Privacy is now defined as something that's in our hearts. We've redefined what's private, so there's less worry about what we post."

And Twitter in particular has become a useful tool in some businesses. People are using it to let co-workers know they're headed out to lunch, in a meeting or waiting on an update from another department, says a digital lifestyles expert with the consulting firm Social Technologies.

Lauren Turner, the interactive marketing director for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, says she uses status updates on Facebook and Twitter personally and professionally.

She uses Twitter to let her friends _ and her bosses _ know what she's up to.

"I went to a conference, and I was Twittering about each session. It gave my being there credibility," she says.

On a personal level, she says her mother tracks her younger sister's Facebook changes to stay on top of her social life.

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"She and her boyfriend were on-again and off-again, and my mother figured out it was easier if she just logged in to see their relationship status," Turner says.

The status message, says Matt Carlson, an assistant professor of communication at Saint Louis University who studies the media and popular culture, allows us to announce personal news at our leisure, without expecting others to drop what they're doing to respond.

"We like having communication on our own terms," he says. "We often want to get a message across without having to spend a lot of time conversing with the other person."

But even though the ease is part of the appeal, crafting the perfect, pithy post can create some anxiety, Carlson says.

"It's something that represents who they are at that point in time," he says. "For many, it's not a flippant entry."

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HOW TO CRAFT THE PERFECT STATUS MESSAGE

Whenever possible, say something clever. But not too clever. Because then you look like you're trying too hard, and that's kind of pathetic.

Before you sling mud at someone else's name, take a minute to consider if you really want to trash said person to hundreds of people at once. They'll look bad, and you'll likely look childish.

Be extra careful if you're job-searching. Always, always, always remember that a Twitter update, a Gchat status message or a Facebook or MySpace status update can be seen by a potential employer.

Shorter is better.

Think beyond your mood. Status updates and Twitter feeds can successfully convey information far beyond, "I'm having a bad day." You can use them to update co-workers that you're headed to lunch or a meeting, to tell friends you're looking for something to do later in the evening or to warn humanity of the latest Adam Sandler atrocity.

Sources: Matt Carlson, Molly McIntyre, Stephanie Sherwood, Lauren Turner and Marian Salzman

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© 2008, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.