A horrible horrible thing happened to me the other day. As I was preparing to leave the office I'm interning at this summer, my Blackberry buzzed. Normally, this is excellent news: a potential party, a juicy email. This time, however, it was a Facebook friend request. From my boss.

Sh*t. 

Never mind the fact that my boss is young, blonde, and pretty--I knew she would nevertheless be less than impressed with my profile (Main pic: drink in hand, dress that questionably borders on shirt status). Luckily, I had the evening to hide my tagged photos from users not in the Vanderbilt network, and voila--my hands wiped clean.

Even more luckily, I had just read this article about the social networking site Linked In. Linked In, unlike Facebook, boasts no exciting interests and favorite quotes, no photo albums and bumper stickers and "What Sex and The City Character Are You" quizzes (Carrie). Your profile consists of a simple picture, resume, professional expertise, and network of colleagues, who can message you privately but not write on an ever incriminating wall. After a quick profile construction and search, Amen! Ms. Boss was on it.

Now, rather than judging me on the state of my profile (Interests: Pinot Grigio), she can marvel at my extracurricular activities and wide professional network--consisting of not only my mother and aunt, but also friends with other internships.

If you've gone corporate this summer--I highly recommend you join. You won't get any juicy gossip from Linked In, but you'll definitely get a thumbs up from your boss.