I never thought I'd be posting here based off of a source from ESPN, but I just came across this article about how Facebook and other social networking sites are changing the way high school athletes are recruited by major colleges.

According to the story, high school sports stars are now using their Facebook pages to self-promote, hoping to make themselves all the more attractive to coaches and recruiters. In addition, college-age fans of these adolescent athletes are using social media to attempt to lure their favorite stars to their respective schools.

The phenomenon reminded me a little of sites like Zinch.com, which advertises itself as a way for students to "showcase" themselves to admissions officers and for admissions officers to promote their schools to students.

How do these kinds of techniques change the balance of the college admissions process? There's been a lot of talk about how social networking profiles can negatively affect a student's shot at the school of his or her choice. Will managing a student's internet presence in a positive sense soon become a new step in the increasingly complex college applications process?