You did what with the rugby team??
November 5, 2008 9:50 AM Subscribe
I need some articles about being aware of things that you post on social networking sites.
I have some dear former students that are in their first or second year of college. I am very close to these kids and have a strong relationship with them. They tend to post all the down and dirty details of their conquests on their facebook/myspace pages. I'm not talking about "whew, I'm hung over!" kind of stuff but things that could/would be very detrimental in the eyes of a future employer. How can I try to clue them in to being more 'selective' about what they post without coming across like an old biddie? I want to bring their attention to it but not have them tune me out. I know that I have seen some articles about your facebook history catching up with you but I can't find them now. Any suggestions on the best way to handle this? Should I leave well enough alone? Any articles that I could post to my page and hope that they read? TIA.
I have some dear former students that are in their first or second year of college. I am very close to these kids and have a strong relationship with them. They tend to post all the down and dirty details of their conquests on their facebook/myspace pages. I'm not talking about "whew, I'm hung over!" kind of stuff but things that could/would be very detrimental in the eyes of a future employer. How can I try to clue them in to being more 'selective' about what they post without coming across like an old biddie? I want to bring their attention to it but not have them tune me out. I know that I have seen some articles about your facebook history catching up with you but I can't find them now. Any suggestions on the best way to handle this? Should I leave well enough alone? Any articles that I could post to my page and hope that they read? TIA.
Best answer: Hm. Tough situation. As a headhunter, I've typically practiced a "googling all my potential candidates" rule. Because I know for a fact the employers might well. And I've had to tactfully point out to some people that things on the Internet that seem super funny to their friends would look ridiculous or worse to their potential employers. Luckily nothing that was un-take-downable.
I've also had a situation where negative things were associated with my real name, my surname being exceedingly unique (only my family has it, in the whole country) and someone vindictive over a sketchy uncle of mine decided to "link" the two of us in a blog post that brought a lot of haters to my virtual doorstep. It sucked. It's no fun. I had to take major steps to get that "linkage" removed and hopefully not affect my professional life, where I trade on my name. Of course, there's only so much you can control.
I guess I don't have any advice on how to tell them, except maybe to just make up an example that you call real, or use mine and spice it up, or something and say, well you do what you're gonna do but here's what could happen, i've seen it. something like that.
i've also dropped candidates because of things I've learned about them on the internet; i realized that there was no way i could represent them to my clients., their potential employers.
posted by Soulbee at 11:10 AM on November 5, 2008
I've also had a situation where negative things were associated with my real name, my surname being exceedingly unique (only my family has it, in the whole country) and someone vindictive over a sketchy uncle of mine decided to "link" the two of us in a blog post that brought a lot of haters to my virtual doorstep. It sucked. It's no fun. I had to take major steps to get that "linkage" removed and hopefully not affect my professional life, where I trade on my name. Of course, there's only so much you can control.
I guess I don't have any advice on how to tell them, except maybe to just make up an example that you call real, or use mine and spice it up, or something and say, well you do what you're gonna do but here's what could happen, i've seen it. something like that.
i've also dropped candidates because of things I've learned about them on the internet; i realized that there was no way i could represent them to my clients., their potential employers.
posted by Soulbee at 11:10 AM on November 5, 2008
oh the point of that linkage with my sketchy uncle is that the blog post linked my "moniker" -- ie SoulBee, and other handles I use online with both my real first and last name, AND my sketchy uncle. I don't think there's much up on the internet under my real name OR my handles that I'd REALLY REALLY have a problem with potential employers knowing, but I'd just rather keep it separate if i can.
I did manage to get the perpetrator of this linkage off my back (by trading my uncle's cell phone number -- I can't stand my uncle and he *is* sketchy and deserves to have people mad at him so I figure it was a reasonable trade).
posted by Soulbee at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2008
I did manage to get the perpetrator of this linkage off my back (by trading my uncle's cell phone number -- I can't stand my uncle and he *is* sketchy and deserves to have people mad at him so I figure it was a reasonable trade).
posted by Soulbee at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2008
Best answer: Danah Boyd is one of the better-known people to talk about social networking sites - I would be very surprised if she didn't have a post up somewhere about privacy in that context.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:20 AM on November 5, 2008
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:20 AM on November 5, 2008
Best answer: Where the Streets Have Names: Learning from Bono's Facebook Dilemma
posted by SuperSquirrel at 12:16 PM on November 5, 2008
posted by SuperSquirrel at 12:16 PM on November 5, 2008
Best answer: Beyond just looking bad to future employers, social networking has identity theft risks:
Identity theft: Six clicks from a cyber crook
I twitch a little when my friends freely blog and post about their actual birthdates, family members' names, names of pets, names of birth cities, and any other information that is often used for identity verification.
posted by cadge at 1:03 PM on November 5, 2008
Identity theft: Six clicks from a cyber crook
I twitch a little when my friends freely blog and post about their actual birthdates, family members' names, names of pets, names of birth cities, and any other information that is often used for identity verification.
posted by cadge at 1:03 PM on November 5, 2008
OK - Stupid question here, but one I've always wondered about when I hear about potential employers searching your facebook account. I know it's possible on myspace if you don't have your account set to private and of course, anything that can be found via google is going to be found, but articles and questions always seem to specifically mention Facebook and I didn't think it was possible for anyone but people you've friended to see what you're doing. (I understand in the question above the people involved are friends on facebook.)
I can see how the Bono situation happened - some friend of the girl's sees the pictures on facebook and then emails the pics to other people and it gets around, etc. but it's my understanding that a recruiter or potential employer couldn't just see your facebook account unless you friended that person. Is it just that putting it out there you risk a bono situation where someone you've friended passes on potentially embarassing info to the world at large or is there a way that people can actually view facebook info even if they aren't your friend?
Sadly my life is so unexciting that this question is completely academic, but I've always been curious.
posted by katyjack at 1:20 PM on November 5, 2008
I can see how the Bono situation happened - some friend of the girl's sees the pictures on facebook and then emails the pics to other people and it gets around, etc. but it's my understanding that a recruiter or potential employer couldn't just see your facebook account unless you friended that person. Is it just that putting it out there you risk a bono situation where someone you've friended passes on potentially embarassing info to the world at large or is there a way that people can actually view facebook info even if they aren't your friend?
Sadly my life is so unexciting that this question is completely academic, but I've always been curious.
posted by katyjack at 1:20 PM on November 5, 2008
katyjack - on Facebook you can see photos and comments of/by people who are friends of friends...
posted by radioamy at 1:27 PM on November 5, 2008
posted by radioamy at 1:27 PM on November 5, 2008
Best answer: this from our local paper: Kingsbury's posts during meeting criticized (the original OlyBlog post)
which is maybe a little different from the sorts of things your students are posting (and I'm inclined to be of the opinion that in about 10 years the take on personal lives vis a vis work lives may be quite different), but it points to the notion that even a "private" space may be invaded.
whether that means you should always be on your best behavior, or cultivate a persona that's brutally honest, is left as an exercise for the reader.
posted by epersonae at 3:03 PM on November 5, 2008
which is maybe a little different from the sorts of things your students are posting (and I'm inclined to be of the opinion that in about 10 years the take on personal lives vis a vis work lives may be quite different), but it points to the notion that even a "private" space may be invaded.
whether that means you should always be on your best behavior, or cultivate a persona that's brutally honest, is left as an exercise for the reader.
posted by epersonae at 3:03 PM on November 5, 2008
katyjack: many people have completely public facebook profiles, so that even if you are not a friend of a friend (or even on facebook) you can see their whole profile. You can change the privacy settings around a lot, but I think they default to public.
posted by jacalata at 4:36 PM on November 5, 2008
posted by jacalata at 4:36 PM on November 5, 2008
Best answer: It's like the Universe wanted me to post this link.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:06 PM on November 5, 2008
posted by cjorgensen at 7:06 PM on November 5, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks everyone, some great resources here. I appreciate your help!!
posted by pearlybob at 10:06 AM on November 6, 2008
posted by pearlybob at 10:06 AM on November 6, 2008
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posted by Shebear at 10:00 AM on November 5, 2008