The New York Times recently posted an interesting blog post. In short, the blogger stated that it was in bad taste to post whether or not you were accepted into the college of your choice. According to the blogger, most high school seniors are “friends” with about 300 people on Facebook, but they are probably only good friends with about 50 of those people and really good friends with only about a dozen of those people. Therefore, posting whether or not they were accepted to the college of their choice is a bit more personal than necessary. Furthermore, the blogger maintains that it is in bad taste to post an acceptance After all, someone else on the “friends” list may have applied to the same school and may be upset to hear that you were accepted.

So, is this blogger correct? Should Facebook users keep this information and use the old fashioned phone to personally tell those people who really matter to them? Or, is it acceptable to brag about being accepted on Facebook?

There are certainly two different schools of thought here. On one hand, why shouldn’t someone be allowed to celebrate and to brag a little about being accepted on Facebook? Considering the extent of the personal information that is frequently shared on Facebook, this is certainly at the bottom of the “inappropriate” list. After all, you aren’t going to scare off a potential employer by announcing where you will be going to school and you aren’t going to anger school personnel by showing enthusiasm for the school you will be attending.

On the other hand, there are sensitivity issues to consider. News that is great news for you may be devastating news to others. As the New York Times blogger put it, if someone on your friends list was devastated after being rejected from her dream college and she then reads about your acceptance, it will certainly be like a slap in the face to her. So, it looks like the final lesson here is that you don’t necessarily have to refrain from celebrating. But, as with everything you post on Facebook, be sure to consider how it might affect those who read it and then decide if it is really the message that you want to send.