Could Facebook be the TOO Social Network?

Facebook is a ubiquitous social networking tool, but it can possibly cost graduating students future jobs.
 
Keeping a Facebook profile clean and professional is vital in the changing world of technology and the competitive career market. Profiles are a reflection of their creator and making sure that it always gives off the right impression is a smart career move.
 
Two different audiences will not look at the same content the same way, so having a clean, professional Facebook profile is the only way to ensure it will not compromise future employment. Have respectful statuses with no cursing, profile pictures that do not involve intoxication and quotes that are safe for work.
 
Steve Brown, Director of Career Services, said that companies do look into Facebook profiles when reviewing applicants. “They only look at a few applicants’ Facebooks because it takes time,” said Brown. It could be the deciding factor between the final applicants in the process.
  

While Facebook allows people to have stronger privacy settings, Brown said that companies have special programs to circumvent these restrictions so it is important to maintain a professional image.
 
A public relations director at a local business said that “Facebook is a reflection of you. If it’s on the Internet, it’s fair game.”
 
If a student who applies for a job has drunken or any other compromising photos, he or she most likely will not be hired because of behavior outside of work that would not represent the company well.
 
The PR Director said that when she looks at Facebook profiles, she looks at photos, interests and the wall.
 
“I mostly look at photos. If there are pictures of them at bars with wristbands, we don’t want to hire them,” she said.
 
She has not rejected anyone yet based but on Facebook, but adds “If there’s something stupid on Facebook, it usually comes out in the interview.”
 
Senior Carl Lewis agreed that future employers who check out Facebook profiles are not invading privacy.
 
“It’s public information. You put it online. I think it’s fair. I think the problem is with the Facebook culture itself. I think the problem is with the whole popularity of it. It’s open information,” said Lewis.
 
Junior Britt Wall said, “I am planning on getting a teaching degree [from Mercer], so I’ve already started cleaning up all my profiles. I deleted my MySpace completely, it was from high school but it had tons of stuff on there that I wouldn’t want other people to see. But my Facebook is pretty clean already. “
 
Wall is not friends with many of his professors, especially the ones he plans on having again. If he knows that he will not be taking a class from a certain professor, he will send a friend request. He understands why some students and professors would want to be friends though.
 
“Professors are people too and Facebook is a great hub for connecting with people. If that’s the best way for them to contact their students, then I can definitely see why they’re friends,” said Wall.
 
Professors who are on Facebook have the choice whether or not to be friends with their students. Students haphazardly post information that professors could easily see. While most professors admit they do not spend enough time on Facebook to notice if their students are posting about not doing the assigned homework, it is still a possibility and could be a problem if seen.
 
Dr. Tom Huber, professor of Biology, is friends with students on Facebook.
 
“My position is I never ask students to be friends on Facebook. But on the other hand, I never turn down a current student who is Biology major, a Great Books student or in one of my classes if they ask to be friends. I think I’d either have to say no to all of them or I have to say yes to all of them,” said Huber.
 
Huber said Facebook does not affect the way he thinks about students but that students should be careful what they post online.
 
“Of course I don’t know what their security things are because they’re friends of mine, but I have seen students post many things that could be bad if they get out into the general public, mostly for people who are searching for jobs,” said Huber.
 
Huber understands certain privacy settings and encourages students to use them.
 
“If you’re friends with a faculty member, I think there’s a lot of things you wouldn’t want them to have access to, which I think is perfectly fine,” said Huber.
 
English professor Dr. Mary Raschko does not friend students on Facebook. She feels that both she and her students deserve the privacy.
 
“I care about my students in the classroom and who they are becoming personally, but I don’t think I need to know what their daily experiences and activities are. They should have a space that I’m not watching what they have to say. I also feel like I want to be a space for me and my friends,” said Raschko.
 
While Raschko knows from her own college career that her students are having certain experiences, she does not want to see them on her News Feed because it may influence the way she thinks about them.  She also advises students to be careful when applying for jobs or graduate school.
 
“Since it is public, your future employers or your future admissions committee in graduate school may very well look there to get a better idea of who you are and they are only interested in your professionally, so they aren’t going to say, ‘Oh that other stuff doesn’t matter.’ They’re going to think about how all the actions in your life might affect your professional behavior so they judge things that aren’t professional on a professional basis,” said Raschko. 
 
English professor Dr. Deneen Senasi accepts friend requests from her students. She said that she has not had a negative experience with being friends with students on Facebook.
 
“I get to know them as people and I suppose they to know me as one too. For example, just last night [two students] were telling me about a conversation they had about Milton that apparently carried from when they took the class, and so as a professor that’s gratifying. Somebody posts on your wall on Facebook about Milton, that’s a good day. And I just like it. I like looking at people’s pictures,” said Senasi.
 
Senasi has never seen a student have a compromising status or had a student lie to her about not doing an assignment while Facebook said the student was out partying. However, if that did happen and Senasi saw the post, she would point out the discrepancy.
 
Senasi said that the students she is friends with generally do not have profiles that are compromising but that there could be potential problems.
 
“Technology being what it is and the virtual world being what it is nowadays, I do think you have to realize that access is available in a variety of contexts. But if you put stuff out there, bottom line whether it’s fair or not, you have to be aware that it’s a possibility it might be done and you wouldn’t want that to be what determines your future,” said Senasi. 
 
Two different audiences will not look at the same content the same way, so having a clean, professional Facebook profile is the only way to ensure it will not compromise future employment. Have respectful statuses with no cursing, profile pictures that do not involve intoxication and quotes that are safe for work.
 
For advice about cleaning up your Facebook or anything else related to future employment, visit Career Services located on the third floor of the Connell Student Center.