Search for self: 71% youth track their reputation online

Users aged 18 to 29 most likely to change privacy settings on profiles to limit what they share with others

What's that? A young college grad lecturing her elders about online privacy?

It might go against conventional wisdom, but a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is adding fuel to the argument that young people are fast becoming the gurus of online reputation management, especially when it comes to social networking sites.

Among other things, the study found that they are most likely to limit personal information online - and the least likely to trust free online services ranging from Facebook to LinkedIn and MySpace.

Marlene McManus,21, is among those young adults. On the Job hunt since graduating from Clark University in Massachusetts, she's been "scouring" her Facebook page, removing photos that contain beer cups and any other signs of college exploits. She's also dropped twitter altogether. " I have to present a public face that doesn't have the potential to hurt my image ," McManus says.

Adults over the age of 30 might do well to listen. The Pew study and a mounting body of new research is showing that the very generation accused of sharing too much information online is actually leading the pack in online privacy.

The Pew study found, for instance , that social networkers ages 18 to 29 were the most likely to change the privacy settings on their profiles to limit what they share with others online. The percentage who did so was 71%, compared with just 55% of the 50-to 64-year-old bracket. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of all social networkers who were surveyed said they've tightened security settings.

About half of young people in that 18-29 bracket have deleted comments that others have made on their profile, compared with just 29% of those ages 30 to 49 and 26% of 50-to 64-year-olds.

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Managing your Web image

Snooping has, unsurprisingly, continued to grow in popularity. But actively combating that surreptitious monitoring has also significantly escalated

Additional surveys estimate that 70% of potential employers research their applicants online, and frequently reject them because of what they find

52% of adults dangerously over-share on social networks, the oblivious oldtimers would do well to learn from the youngsters

41% have removed their names from photos of them posted by other compared to 18% of those 50 to 64