With diminishing privacy, eventually so many people will be "compromised" by their private lives that it will slowly become normal to have some kind of dirt or scandal out there. I mean, 50% of married people have affairs. >50% of people have been blind drunk in public at some point. Probably 10-20% of people have let an ex take naked or half-naked pics of them. Most guys have surfed dodgy porn sites etc. Either half the population is going to be permanently unemployed, or people will stop giving a shit about irrelevant private life issues and concentrate on ability to perform on the job. The free market will ensure that if people get fired for non-work issues, some enterprising and tolerant firms will hire them, and get better talent as a result. Consider - prudish firm A won't hire anyone who has a drunk facebook pic, private life scandal, racy comments online etc; tolerant firm B will hire any non-felon who can do the job well. Firm B has a pool of applicants 2-3 times larger than pool A, so they will end up with a better performing workforce. Firm B will thus, other things being equal, beat firm A in business competition. Profit-seeking will force businesses to avoid being too strict in the hiring process. As anyone who has ever run a firm knows, finding and retaining employee talent is the hardest and most important thing. Capitalists aren't going to give up on large sums of $$$ just because someone got drunk or naked at a party in college.
Relax, many young kids on here, as well as adults that never had a real job or a life outside their Mom's house.. It's really quite simple, don't use the same name/email on Facebook, and keep your Facebook contacts seperate.
Funny, reminds me of the movie, Animal House, where at the end of the movie you are told John Belushi in later years became Senator Blutarsky.
Must be nice to have 1 friend. If I had two accounts, I could call myself a friend I suppose. Since I don't have even one account and doubtful that I ever will.... Facebook and such would be more wasted time. I hate the pain of even checking email unless I'm expecting one. I suppose if you are employed and using company time it has a feel good quality. I don't mind wasting hours on ET because sometimes it's actually trading related. I wonder if employers will not hire those without Facebook? "No Facebook? What is he hiding? Next!"
Solution: Don't use Facebook. I don't, and I could care less about it. I have a Linkedin profile for business, and that's it. Social networking is nothing but an invitation to violate privacy.
With diminishing privacy, eventually so many people will be "compromised" by their private lives that it will slowly become normal to have some kind of dirt or scandal out there. ---------------------------------------------- I agree. On the flip side are drug tests. This girl failed a drug test and lost her job. Her job-- answering phones. There were no extenuating circumstances, just company policy. Felons are out, liability issues. Sex offenders, fughedaboutit, they can't even find a place to live. Hippa privacy act, the only ones who aren't privy to that info are family members. Bad credit score, you are a risk to hire. Psy profiles, pass or fail. If you pass muster, you can work 25-30 hours a week for $7-10 an hour while the camera's are rolling.
Let me give you guys a little lesson about life. I have interviewed people before and it doesnt really matter whats on a person's Facebook unless, of course, it goes to an extreme where laws are violated and the content would offend the majority. Little white lies, party pictures and whatever else is on there will not effect a person's performance with the company. In fact, the majority of people out there engage in some type of drinking or other fun activity. More then likely, the executives at the company have done something much worse in their lives. What will effect a person's performance with the company is the employee's manager and their ability to motivate them...however, Facebook guffs will not effect a person's performance. Now, with that said, many people do get on Google and Facebook nit-picking and screening. I will give you some advice on how to get around that. Take notes. Go down to the Red Cross with a digital camera and donate blood. Have the technician take a few pictures of you and then place that on Facebook...so make it look like you are a saint. Go through your Facebook and make sure everything is of a positive nature. Leave out politics, religion and gender/race...delete that. Make sure that the majority of your facebook revolves around other people and not just yourself... However, if you are an interviewer and making critical hiring decisions based upon what you see on Facebook or Google then I can tell you that your company will probably not be all that profitable. Thats ok though because unprofitable companies seem like the norm in America rather then the exception...
I use Facebook all the time and have found people that I have not seen for 15 or more years. In fact, I found people that I went to high school with. If you do not use Facebook, then you are truly losing out. In fact, I would see it as a negative in the hiring process if a person did not have a Facebook account. It means they do not use the internet. The LinkedIn profile can be a liability however. Other people can use your LinkedIn to contact your business contacts. Do you want other people contacting your contacts?
This article is crap. Employers who look on facebook accounts to determine who you are, are idiots. I have a very common name, and there are at least 100 people with my name on Facebook. If somebody makes up a fake profile about me, there's nothing stopping them. Employers who diqualify because of facebook are therefore idiots, unless they know for sure a Facebook profile is made by that person. I could make a fake profile of Jack hershey with stupid pictures in instant. Online information is way more unreliable then offline. 99,9% is fluff.