Mr. Smith hits a home run!

I have to admit, I chuckled a bit after reading Protect Your Privacy: My Facebook Lesson Learned. 

Thankfully, when I was an undergrad, we didn't have such worries.  But, I can only imagine if we had.  Young adults do some pretty silly things when they're out with friends.  Of course, these things are not meant for employers, but that is the danger nowadays.  You never know who might be recording your antics or snapping pics.  So, do yourself a favor and read the article. My guess is that Mr. Smith might just have saved these college students some future angst come career time.

He Flunked the Background Check

I posted about Social Intelligence Corp. in June.  Gizmodo has an article about this company and its background check.  Check out I Flunked My Social Media Background Check.  Will You?   While the article takes the position that incriminating photos might not show up in the check, it is best to be safe rather than sorry.  Take a moment to review Your online reputation is crucial, so how do you protect it?

Beware of online "friends"

Some Facebook users are collectors.  They have hundreds of friends - some close and some not.  But, did you know that some people do not even know each other when they "friend" on Facebook?  Did you also know that this simple act of adding another friend to the collection could cost you a job?

Corinne Gregory of ResumeBear tells the story of a teen who unknowingly "friended" someone who was in jail and lost a job opportunity.  Read her article The unforeseen impact of online "friendships".

Your online reputation is crucial, so how do you protect it?

This blog has mentioned online reputation several times over the past few days.

A "how to" on managing your online reputation

Start-up to scrutinize online activity


In addition to the previous information, there are several companies / apps that can assist you in your online reputation management.  Reppler monitors Facebook accounts for potentially damaging material.  Google has just released the Me on the Web tool which makes it simpler to set up searches on your information. Buzz is yet another tool.  SocioClean and Reputation.com are two other tools that track your online activity.  Reppler, Google's Me on the Web, and Buzz are free tools, while SocioClean and Reputation.com are subscription services.

Should you use a reputation tool?  That is completely up to you.  You know your own activity best and whether you have questionable information on the web. In addition, you should also take the online habits of your friends into account.  If you are associated with people who do not practice discretion in posting potentially damaging photos and the like, you might want to begin with the free tools to see what they retrieve on you.

A "how to" on managing your online reputation

Mashable shows us how to manage our online reputation and offers suggestions on tools to assist in the process. Reputation management is an absolute necessity in the current job market where candidates are plentiful and recruiters are looking for ways to narrow down their pool of eligible candidates.  Consider this:

Of the almost 80% of U.S. hiring managers who had searched for candidates online, 70% of them said they had rejected a candidate based on what they found in his or her search results, according to a 2009 study commissioned by Microsoft.  Read more and learn how to manage your online reputation. 

Another social media cautionary article...

My Background Check provides details on what is / is not acceptable on your social media sites.

If you're looking for a job, you probably know that your reputation can precede you. Contacts and networking are great tools to get your foot in the door for an interview, but any positive marks on your side can quickly be negated by inappropriate content posted on social media websites.  More...

Facebook's Facial Recognition

Facebook:

"When you or a friend upload new photos, we use face recognition software — similar to that found in many photo editing tools — to match your new photos to other photos you're tagged in. We group similar photos together and, whenever possible, suggest the name of the friend in the photos."  Source...

If you are actively managing your online reputation, you might want to turn this feature off.  ZDNet tells you how.

Be careful what you share on social media

ResumeBear makes the case for caution when sharing personal information on social media. 

If you aren’t thinking about what you say on social media before you say it, then you may be opening yourself up to unintended — and unpredictable — consequences.

Read more

BrandYourself

Per the website:

Negative results in search engines like Google and Bing can hurt you professionally. Our will tools help you push negative results off the first page and replace it with positive content that you control.

Create a Free Account

Companies and Social Media: Did you know..?

According to Harris Interactive 45% of them use social networking sites to research job candidates, with an additional 11% planning to implement social media screening in the very near future.

Would your social media accounts pass scrutiny?

Protecting your Facebook reputation with Reppler

Reppler tracks activity on the user's Facebook account, scans for content that might endanger the user's reputation, and notifies the user to attend to the questionable item.

More on Reppler from Fast Company...

Excellent article: "How to keep your Facebook profile squeaky clean"

Identified offers advice to job seekers on how to keep their Facebook profile "clean" during the job hunt.  Don't miss this!

How to keep your Facebook profile squeaky clean