How do employers/potential employers look at peoples' facebooks/myspace/etc.?

You always hear about people getting screwed out of jobs because of something inappropriate that they or maybe even one of their friends posted (about them) on facebook.

Are those the people that don't make their stuff private? Or is there something employers can do to get around it?

24 Comments
 

It's so simple to change your facebook settings to private that I can't believe some people get in trouble for this stuff. Also, after a night of partying, remove any pictures of you doing stupid shit that your friends tagged you in.

MKballer
 

People are retarded when it comes to the internet. Make all of your shit private, don't add anybody who requests to be your friend (make sure you know them), don't post stupid shit. It's that simple.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

a) Do less stupid shit. b) Hide your information so people can't find what stupid shit you have done. c) Don't add random people. d) Don't be stupid in what you post. e) Profit?

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

My MD said he automatically dings anyone who has a drink in hand in their facebook picture.

Something to think about.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis - when I was dead broke man I couldn't picture this
 
idragmazdaMy MD said he automatically dings anyone who has a drink in hand in their facebook picture.

Something to think about.

Even in casual social settings?

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Nobama88
idragmazdaMy MD said he automatically dings anyone who has a drink in hand in their facebook picture.

Something to think about.

Lol... people like this crack me up. How quickly they forgot their college days - or how butt hurt they still are that they didn't have those college days. I can't wait until 20 years from now when every potential presidential canadate has a book full of 'inappropriate' photos ranging from casual drinking to the late night randevous with the toilet or pictures of them with that one chick who looked 200 pounds smaller then the chick you woke up to in your bed.

This imagine when all presidents are active social networking users.... the pictures and videos that will be used during campaigns will be ridiculous.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

Adds a whole new meaning to the term 'digging up dirt.' Honestly though, I may be one of few, but I'm so on top of my social network accounts. Military_PE_Guy said it best when he talked about how his posting habits changed on just this site: "I try not to say anything I wouldn't be comfortable saying to my boss' face in the middle of a quiet, packed room." Every social media account of mine is kept under pretty careful tabs, it only takes one single virtual slip-up (i.e. all the recent firings over inappropriate tweets from journalists, executives, etc.) to commit career suicide.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Very good point nobama

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

Exactly what nobama said, the smear campaigns of the future are going to be ridiculous.

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Status_QuoExactly what nobama said, the smear campaigns of the future are going to be ridiculous.
Ridiculously awesome.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

The stuff posted so far have a lot of valid points. Fucking blows how future politicians and prominent figures will be required to be literally picture perfect to prevent being revealed by heat-seaking mormons.

But that's not the question the OP posed- question is how are companies, individuals, etc. getting to this information? I know I have facebook fully private and even my pictures aren't available to see by my friends. But for some reason I get the impression that if there's someone who wants to dig shit up, they'll pay enough money to do so and the privacy settings don't mean jack.

Just found out a few days ago that my google search is linked with my gmail account (I felt retarded). That means whenever I check e-mail at a computer and then search something on google without logging out, my search history will be forever associated with my e-mail account. Getting rid of your cyber footprints maybe one of the hardest things to do currently and in the future. God knows how much money people are going to be spending to delete shit they regret putting online.

 

I feel embarassed even admitting to this, but FB has fucked me before. My profile pic was a pretty hilarious picture of me messed up at a music festival. I had it set to private, but people from my school could still look at it. So I cold email a bunch of alumns looking for an internship last summer and one of them emails me back, "if your looking for an internship you might want to change your facebook picture." Obviously he was at least considering giving me a shot if he looked me up on FB. Obviously felt like a huge dumbass.and ended up with no internship.

 

Are you sure you can even make your profile picture private? I thought anybody could see that no matter what.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 
Nobama88You can make it so that when people search for you, you will come up without a photo

No longer available

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FacebookYour name, profile picture, gender and networks are visible to everyone (learn more). We also recommend setting the other basic settings below open to everyone so friends can find and connect with you.
http://ayainsight.co/ Curating the best advice and making it actionable.
 

Is it weird to not even have a Facebook? Never made one and figured if I wanted to get in touch with somebody I will reach out rather than be available for the world to get in touch with me,

"One should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it, indeed, especially when one doesn't like it." - Charlie Munger
 

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