Big Brother

Facebook, My Space, Twitter and Blogging are all examples of innovations that were designed around the same concept; faster and more efficient means of staying connected.  Technological advancements have enabled us to communicate with persons overseas without even leaving home. Programs like Facebook have allowed us to stay connected and share our lives with friends and family even when life seems too busy to maintain those relationships.  Looking back in history when the way to communicate to distant parties was through Pigeon Posts, we should embrace the fact that a Blog Post takes merely seconds to receive in comparison to weeks from flying messengers. 

Advancements in communication have also become an important tool to our global economy. Inventions like e-mail, video chat and blogging have helped businesses maintain international relationships.  Computers have become data banks and book keepers for most companies. 

Seeing how this information is broadcasted through the internet and is a tool used for both personal and professional means, what stops this information from intertwining your personal life with your professional life?  The answer is nothing. Statistics show that 44% of job seekers' prospects utilize these tools to conduct an internet interview on their potential employees.  Impressing them during the formal interview may not secure you a position in a company especially if your internet profile includes materials that are in “poor taste”. 

Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) is just one example of a search engine designed to compile internet profiles.  Employers use these tools to perform a more invasive interview for potential hires, promotion candidates or even just simple housekeeping on current employees.  There are laws that prevent employers from performing these investigations through the web like the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act).  The FCRA includes provisions that state an employer must obtain permission from the persons they are conducting the background checks on.  There seems to be a few things they are forgetting though.  When approached by a company you work for or are hoping to work for, my personal opinion is that the majority of the people would not protest such a request.  More importantly, this law only pertains to companies outsourcing their employment screening.  If the research is being performed in house employers are not subject to these provisions and don’t require approval from the individual. 

This is a big concern of mine because I have created accounts online, like Facebook, where my life and embarrassing moments have been exploited and broadcasted through this apparently uncensored and public form of media.  I used one of the search engines to do some dirt digging on myself and immediately following logged onto www.google.com/delete.  That URL logs you onto a website where you may then request to the webmaster to delete this “questionable” material.  Keep in mind that your “dirt” is subject to the webmaster’s discretion whether or not it will be removed.

I assume that the majority of my classmates, myself included, attend school to make themselves more marketable to a particular job market.  In today’s society competition is fierce and jobs are scarce.  We most certainly don’t need to create our own walls and assist our competitors in obtaining our desired positions in a company.  Would you show up to an interview wearing a belly shirt and cut off jeans with a beer in your hand?  How many people have posted, blogged, attached pictures and/or made comments describing your GOOD night out on the town that you wouldn’t want potential work associates to view?  I have attached a news clip as well as an article full of facts that confirm the actualities of this happening to you (just click on the underlined words to view).  “Big Brother” is always watching!