Time for Your Social Media Makeover
If you've had a Facebook account for a number of years, there is probably some stuff in your timeline that you're not particularly proud of or, at the very least, wouldn't cast you in the most flattering light to a prospective employer. When Facebook was brand new none of us really gave any thought to that sort of thing - we were just goofing around with friends and never worried that an off-the-cuff comment might come back to bite us in the ass.
Fast forward to today, and it is now common for prospective employers to check out your Facebook. In fact, I remember another thread on the subject where more than one of you confirmed that a prospective employer made you log in to your account during the interview so they could have full access and see everything. Add to that Facebook's new Graph Search and all the creepy implications of that and many of you are probably wondering if you should just delete your account altogether.
Well, I try to look out for you guys and I think I may have found a rare Internet Do-Over for you. It's called FaceWash, and it may not work for much longer because of its potential to thwart Graph Search. How does it work? It scans your entire Facebook timeline for objectionable posts and then gives you the opportunity to edit or delete them.
It has a pre-set profanity filter, so it'll point out all the F-bombs you've dropped over the years, and you can also tell it to search for specific transgressions like all the times you've opined that your boss licks donkey balls. It's just for Facebook right now, but apparently a Twitter version is right around the corner.
I see the utility in something like this and I can appreciate that people sometimes say things they regret and want to take back. But a part of me is a little disappointed that it's come to this and it feels like a small assault on free speech to me. It's a shame that you can't have a semi-private conversation with friends of yours without having to worry that it might cost you a job at some point in the future.
Be that as it may, here we are so there you go. Get busy scrubbing up your timelines so they're squeaky clean the next time an employer creeps you or some faceless corporation wants to sell you some shit you don't need. You're welcome.
Nice post. I added a link the other day to FaceWash from a lifehacker.com post on the FB graph article from trazer985. Haven't gotten around to doing this myself but curious for anyone's feedback if they have. Also seconded on the "shouldn't have to come to this" opinion.
I deleted my facebook and re-opened a year and a half ago. I also deleted all that I could about my MSN Messenger/Hotmail accounts.
I still find myself deleting timeline posts that I post without thinking. I'm thinking of scrubbing my likes/school/about page before facebook search picks up
Like you said, it is kind of annoying that Facebook has evolved like this. I guess its my fault for not forseeing this, but I was 18 I created my first FB profile. I also did not expect things to change much, as my Google, hotmail, MSN, and Myspace profile never evolved to the point where I actually have to read the terms and conditions.
At the end of the day, i wish I didn't have facebook. However I feel that since most of my friends are out of town, I am forced to have it just to keep in contact with them. In an ideal world, My facebook would compose of my best friends and the rest I would stay connected through linked in.
Off-topic:
Who would agree to work for someone that required you to provide them with your Facebook login credentials?
Evidently it's becoming more and more common. They don't actually expect you to give them your password, but they make you log into your account during the interview and they troll around in it and then let you log out. That's what happens when you have 100 people applying for 1 job. The employer has all the power.
Ho-lee shit.
I knew there was a lot of FB checking going on but that takes it to an entirely different level. Last thing I would want my future employer to see are those late night messages I sent to girls from high school. FB getting deleted for sure.
I saw an article about that awhile back, but I don't think that could really become common practice because HR wouldn't want to deal with the lawsuits. If they forced you to look at your profile, then they could see things like your religion, sexual orientation, fake twitter girlfriend, etc... If someone wasn't hired they could get the company in trouble for not hiring them based off of criteria the company has no business asking. I'm hoping after a few lawsuits other employers figure out that they might as well not bother.
This is frightening to me. What kinds of places are instituting this practice?
Just tried it. Really fast. Apart from a few benign comments on some of the pictures I'm tagged in, it seems I'm clean. Considering that's 6 and a half years of Facebook usage, that's not bad. The only problem is there will always be stuff that would only pop up in context or be plain weird. Oh well.
Agreed. It's sad.
I've never been the situation, but I've always been curious:
What sort of shit looks bad to employers (hope this isn't an obvious answer that I'm being oblivious to)? I've always thought "Who cares if I have my drunk ass pictures from Cabo on Facebook? Why would my next boss care?". I've never slandered my past managers and don't air my laundry out. What's probably my most incriminating shit is my pictures - which I don't see much of a problem because there all just alcohol/party related (I'm not that idiot that thinks it's cool to post 1,000 pictures of bud or me hot boxing my car). And I don't see that as being that big of a deal.....Thoughts?
I had one questionable item, some one swore in a photo I was tagged in. Lol I am lame.
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