Well, there you have it. A watch dog group in the UK has warned that young adults could damage their careers with details about themselves on social networking websites.
This is a real spoiler. If we all become conscious of what we're putting up because we think a nosy employer, school or parent will check us up, the beauty of online freedom is eroded. Social networking sites let you be you, and broadcast that image to your friends around the world. But when faced with a situation like this, people may button up and social networking websites lose their cache.
Personally, even though there is some concern in terms of posting those drunken club pictures, I think as society evolves, we will learn to separate professional and personal lifes. It will become less taboo. But until that times comes, better watch those postings while job hunting - you've been warned!
See the BBC article for more details:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7108627.stm
1 comment:
I'm all for freedom of expression. But I'm less optimistic about employers coming to accept the division between personal and private life. If you're thinking about hiring somebody, isn't it perfectly reasonable for you to want to find out as much about the person as you can? The problem is that by searching someone's Facebook page you'll probably end up finding out much that's totally irrelevant, but that might keep many employers from hiring the person anyway. It's widely held to be unethical to ask personal questions in interviews, so that should extend to searches as well. But I (pessimistically) think people will refrain from searching.
As both a practical and ethical matter, social networks should do a better job at informing members and prospective members of the availability of their information.
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