I get it. Facebook is amazing. Never before have you had so much information about friends, acquaintances and a couple other randoms at the click of a mouse.
You can find out what the girl that sat next to you in third grade looks like now, see what some of your friends did last weekend through pictures they’ve posted, and see if the cute guy that sits next to you in class is in a relationship (and you know no relationship is ever official until its posted on Facebook).
But as comfortable as we are exposing ourselves to people our age in our networks who we consider our “friends” how comfortable are we with others seeing that much information??
Sure I think it’s funny to see a picture your friends posted of you bonging a beer last spring break and I find it highly amusing that one of your favorite quotes is in fact “Procrastination is like Masturbation. Cuz in the end, you’re only screwing yourself.”
But will they??
and by “they” I mean potential employers.
For those of you who are searching for internships or jobs a word of advice: Clean up your social networking sites!!
Employers are allowed to do background checks and credit checks so.. is this next? social networking checks??
Its very likely.
More and more employers are looking to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to judge the “character” of a job/intern applicants.
These are MUST READ articles/blogs I’ve found on the subject on the frequency, legality and potential consequences of this new trend:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/us/11recruit.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208175,00.html
http://www.collegerecruiter.com/weblog/archives/2006/09/employers_using.php
http://hodesqtrac.com/2007/05/22/myspace-and-facebook-the-new-background-check/
I find the fact that I am going to be judged by potential employers by the things I post and are posted about me on Facebook/Myspace to be extremely disconcerting.
I don’t like it. But I get it. If i was an employer I would probably want to do the same thing.
I’m thinking about really revamping my Facebook and Myspace accounts before i start looking for a job if not deleting the accounts altogether.
what are your thoughts on the issue??
5 responses so far ↓
1 Ray // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Loved it! I actually experienced a Facebook back-lash last night. I had put in my status something like “Ray is preparing to put on some Bjork, light some candles and drag a razor across his wrist.” I was totally kidding, of course. I have an odd humor. Somehow it got back to my DAD who lives on the edge of the world - Lubbock. He called, concerned - which I was grateful for - but kinda odd Facebook became a 1984 Big Brother for me. Creepy!
Keep up the good work. : )
2 Cassie Smith // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I think if someone is so willing to put themselves out there like that, then they ought to be ready to take what’s coming at them. Facebook has many privacy and security settings, and if people aren’t taking advantage of them, well … I completely got off MySpace, and went through Facebook and deleted practically everyone I don’t talk to on a normal basis, or care for them to dig through all my things. Plus, the limited profile setting is a plus, because then you can add people, but they can only see certain things. I think more people need to take what you’re talking about into consideration. It might get them in trouble one day.
3 Kasey // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:47 pm
That has happened to me before too! I wrote “kasey is dead” as my status and my cousin called me freaking out. Insane.
4 Kim Nguyen // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:55 pm
It’s kind of interesting to overhear some girls complaining about how some dirty stranger posted a dirty comment on her racy MySpace pictures. Why post it in the first place if you’re gonna get offended by the slightest comment on your provocatively posed photo?
It boggles my mind.
I’ve always thought that I’d be safe because there are 378957480564 Kim Nguyens (only at UTA mind you). But you’ve brought me to think about how another Kim Nguyen in Arlington, Texas’s MySpace profile could affect me negatively too.
5 Courtney Boutwell // Sep 27, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I agree with Kim. My philosophy is if you don’t want it looked at, put it away. Don’t put it out there for people to see.
The way I look at it is… my father scares me more than anyone!!! Ok, not really… but if I do something like a blog or that MySpace, I think… ‘what if he found it?’ Will he get mad at this or that? I try to keep it clean. But I do know that once I get out into the real world…. posting that kind of stuff is done. I’ve gotta set everything to private. I’ve already got one private blog set up so that only a few people can read it. So far my MySpace page is harmless. Nothing on there that would scar me for life I think. Who knows… I guess we’ll see.
I never even thought about someone else having the same name as me and having that hurt me. That’s scary. But really….. how many Courtney Boutwells can there be? Ugh, don’t ask if you don’t want to know!!
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