When Worlds Collide on Facebook

5 Tips to Monitor and Manage Your Online Presence

According to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, there are 150 million users on Facebook today and 300 million expected by end of 2009. For the company, these stats are quite impressive but what are the implications for the users? The major implication I see is that our personal and professional lives are colliding on this much loved “social” community. With so many users, we are bound to “run into” people beyond our friend list.

While family and friends use this social media outlet to share and exchange stories, photos and updates, there is something else going on beyond just the personal exchange of information. What is it? Companies now realize that this is an invaluable source for pre-screening job applicants and they are actively perusing profiles to gain a better understanding of who you are and whether you would or would not be a good representation of their company brand or image. Can they do that? Yes and it happens often. In an interview with CBS, Tim DeMello, who owns the Internet company Ziggs, estimates that approximately 20% of companies are secretly scanning online profiles before they interview applicants. He goes on to say what they often find is shocking — including profiles that detail drug use, orgies and illegal behavior. This interview was done a few years back when we weren’t faced with such challenging economic times so the percentage of companies scanning online profiles has grown significantly.

As a user, you do have the ability to adjust privacy levels in order to limit the information seen but there is six degrees of separation in this community and you need to be aware that your FB friends and their friends can tag you in a photo and that photo might not put you in the best light. While the latter is harder to control, you can and should control what you chatter about and what photos you upload that would be considered inappropriate. Not clear on what would be considered “inappropriate?” Anything that would make your mother gasp in disbelief.

The following tips will help improve your chances of not only getting the interview but also avoiding the pink slip!

1. Pay heed to privacy – review your privacy settings for your profile, news and feed sections to see what is currently checked off. FB gives you various options: Everyone, My networks and Friends, Friends of Friends, or Only Friends. By selecting “Only Friends” you will be able to manage who sees what.

2. Post with prudence – you’ve heard the saying; a picture is worth a 1000 words, well bear this is in mind when you upload a photo. The saying stems from the fact that a viewer absorbs a lot of information very quickly and as a result makes “assumptions” very quickly. If a viewer sees a photo of you that he/she deems inappropriate, you have no chance to change their perception of you.

3. Profanity-proof your page - maintain acceptable language at all times. And for those friends that “post with passion” ask them nicely to refrain from doing so on your page.

4. Limit the 411 – don’t divulge your social calendar with references to any late night partying. Employers might assume that you’re not taking your job search or career seriously enough.

5. Communicate your cause – inform all your “friends” that you are either looking for a new job or that you want to excel in your current job so please run by any photos they might want to upload and tag you in that might be questionable. Additionally, have them refrain from making any references to past party experiences that you might have joined in and lastly, to please refrain from using profanity when posting to you. Unfortunately guilt by association is still very much in play.