The amount of information we choose to publish about ourselves on the web is increasing rapidly. The uptake of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and personal blogs is becoming more and more prevalent with a current estimation of 900 million Facebook users, 250 million Twitter users and 150 million LinkedIn users.
When individuals choose which social media they want to be a part of, do they also need to draw the distinction between business and personal social media? Is the line between them becoming blurred? The answer is yes and no.
LinkedIn profiles have always been positioned as a business networking tool, and businesses have recognised the benefits and started to publically embrace the opportunities that sit with Facebook, Twitter and Blogs through their external product and service branding strategies. So, there is a definite business connection to Linkedin but recruiters need to be careful with what potential candidates say about themselves on Facebook and Twitter as these are still highly personal domains and can cross legal implications for recruiters, for example, religious views.
What are the ethics when it comes to organisations looking at candidates social media profile? Are we saying that some media is ok and some are not? Should a user even be concerned that they may be judged on what their profiles say about them? For example, young recently married women are notoriously unpopular with small business owners who fear the disruption and expense of a pregnancy. The law is there to prevent these questions being asked at interview, but it’s not there when the owner is checking Facebook. Unscrupulous employers can sidestep the spirit of legislation, with a lot of help from the job seeker.
Research from psychological studies have started to report it is possible to make accurate judgements about individuals on the personal attributes they exhibit just by looking and analysing their Facebook profile. The content of the profile can say a lot about the individual such as the photo’s displayed, the type of status updates and their likes and dislikes.
These pointers can be used as indicators on which to extrapolate and interpolate against the mainstays of identifiable qualities that make up good employees such as:
• Emotional stability
• Concienciousness
• Extroversion
• Intellectuality
• Agreeability
The Facebook profile can exhibit much information not only by the content on the page but the impression conjured by reading between the lines. It is not only what’s on the page but what’s not on the page that can bring about these additional insights.
Facebook privacy profiles are there for a reason, and must be respected by those hoping to carry out due diligence on individuals. However, a study from CareerBuilder has shown that 45% of employers admitted to looking at candidate social media during the hiring process.
Due to the popularity of the social media space, the line that divides acceptable use of social media to make judgements is inevitably going to change position over time. That said, it is very important to manage the way individual profiles are built and presented as they may be used to make value judgements about who we are and how good an employee we’d make.
It’s not just about hiding obviously sensitive material – those shots of your bachelor party in the Electric Pink Pussycat Club probably need to come down – it’s also about the details that identify aspects of your life where the law has been set up to offer you protection.
Trevor Burne is Managing Director of Talascend. He blogs about Australian engineering jobs, and issues affecting Australian Engineers.
