Privacy toppled by Facebook
April 4, 2007 by Gary Schlee
In a world that’s much more sensitive to issues of privacy and security, it’s interesting to see the willingness with which young people are flinging intimate details about their lives onto the Internet. Facebook is the latest tool that encourages users to publish every amorous adventure, every drunken stupor, every health problem. But unlike MSN and other digital gossip channels, the new social media networks (MySpace and LinkedIn among them) are about full disclosure to everyone, everywhere. It gives a whole other meaning to transparency.
It’s interesting to note recent incidents where students slagging school officials on the Web seemed to think they were having a private conversation. Of course, there’s nothing private about it. This is published material posted for the world. (see Martin Waxman’s recent comments on the same topic).
Instead of passing notes in class, students post them, presumably so they can be monitored by faculty. While some students take steps to protect the information on their own pages, they merrily post material on the sites of ‘friends’ who keep the gate wide open.
The ready sharing of passions and blemishes means that folks who routinely harvest information from the Web have never had it so good. While it’s somewhat frightening to think what predators can do with all this divulgence, it’s also a bonanza for employers. Resumes and reference checks are okay, but it’s hard to beat a quick trip to Facebook to see if the applicant has any dirty laundry to share.
UPDATE (04.13.07): Another disturbing dimension to online social networks is identity theft. It happened to Samer Elatrash, who writes about it in yesterday’s Montreal Mirror. (Thanks go to Colin Mackay of Canuckflack and Judy Gombita for pointing this one out.)
13 Responses to “Privacy toppled by Facebook”
“full disclosure to everyone, everywhere”
I’m not understanding how you see LinkedIn fitting in to this mix. It’s a business social networking tool/online address book/even constantly updated resume (if you want to take the time). No photos. No spot for personal relationships (partner, spouse, kids, cousins, high school mates). Only the information you wish to share about current and past work experience, as well as education, volunteer work, awards, etc. You can even choose to “close” the views of your network colleagues to others.
I think a good indicator of whether the social networking tool is really going to the extreme is whether it’s featured on an episode of Law and Order. I don’t recall seeing any on LinkedIn as yet!
It really comes down to how much the user wants to disclose — or even realizes is being disclosed. The defaults in Facebook and LinkedIn tend to be wide open; the user has to make a point of changing the presets if any restricted access is desired. For Facebook the issue tends to be: do you want your personal interests and journal entries to be accessible. For LinkedIn the issue tends to be: do you want your whole resume to be accessible. If you do, that’s fine. But I remember chatting with a practitioner recently who had a job interview for which he was fully prepared. His research on LinkedIn meant he had exhaustive details about the employer: work history, education, accomplishments and outside interests. Most of it he didn’t really need. But it struck him after the interview: the employer can access the same information about me on LinkedIn. It was at that point that he pared back the voluminous details he was sharing with people he didn’t know.
Well, as adults in the working world, I would *hope* that the vast majority of people would be smart enough to figure out that if you put something online, it can be accessed by all and sundry, including potential employers. I still say that LinkedIn is primarily a business-oriented tool (not a “digital gossip channel”), so individuals who use the platform should take direct responsibility for what comprises their profiles. Or cancel the account.
FaceBook and MySpace are much more in the personal realm…and, just like giving out details about your personal life can lead to identity theft and credit card fraud, etc., so can slapping personal information on a website. My understanding is that the demographic for FB and MS is much younger (a weekend paper said something like 17 to 34) than that of LI. So, guidance from parents, educators and more savvy peers (plus Law and Order “cautionary tale” episodes) are definitely in order for the Millenials, although I would hope that Gen X (”the latch-key kids”) would be smart enough know better.
In general, I am mystified by the desire of so many people to share every small detail of their personal lives, via social networking tools, blogs, podcasts and applications like Twitter. I’m trying to decide whether it is super egos at work or huge insecurities about a sense of self (and the need by many to use online platforms as a form of “self-worth-assessment” therapy).
I know you have a LinkedIn profile, Gary. How about FaceBook and MySpace?
Yup, the sharing of personal minutae mystifies me, too. Having said that, I have an account in Facebook as well as LinkedIn. Generally, both have been more useful to me as research tools than as community builders.
Indicriminate comments–whether they involve slagging faculty or others–mystify me too. What also concerns me are some of the photographs students choose to post of themselves in this public space. Many pix communicate messages like: “call me for a good time,” or “I’m a party animal”. Okay if that’s the image you want to convey to your buddies. Not so smart to convey to the larger world—especially to potential predators.
It would be interesting to hear some students’ takes on this.
Hey Gary,
Not a student, but I know of plenty of employers that use Facebook – via their recent hires – to scope out potential employees and interns. I’ve heard from students, whose siblings are out in the world hiring now, and they are using Facebook and Myspace to vet potential hires.
That last point struck me. The job force is slowly being populated by youth. Obvious. It always happens with attrition. But, this new group of future managers is web-savvy. Very social media savvy. They know how to do research online.
I’ve begun starting the semester by vetting my students in these spaces. Then, the first day of class, I put up what I’ve found – in public offerings on Facebook and MySpace – on a big screen for all to see at the front of the class. This gets the attention of the students. Most (strangely, not all) quickly clean out the incriminating photos and posts. Then, they make their accounts as private as possible.
Robert
Great idea, Robert. I am planning to discuss this topic in the spring semester and the idea of using some show-and-tell certainly has potential. It will be interesting to see how many students will have modified their sites before that, based on this posting.
Regarding online identity, an article was published in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, “How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job”:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117616542652964558-r_Aaa7B3fqJeC6DYeXJ6KSDQoRQ_20070509.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top
I particularly noted this excerpt:
“Job seekers who blog increase the odds that a potential employer will find information online that the candidate wants to be seen, says Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant in Washington and the author of “The Corporate Blogging Book,” which was published last summer. “Everybody has an online identity whether they know it or not, and a blog is the single best way to control it,” she says. “You’re going to be Googled. No one hires anyone or buys anything these days without going online first and doing research.”
This made me smile, because several weeks ago I told Debbie (whom I’ve known for quite a few years–she’s been a great marketing mentor and friend) that I’d been contacted by a recruiter, who had told me at the front end: “I found you on LinkedIn and then searched Google for your contact info. It was from the search that I found you mentioned on Debbie Weil’s blog.”
He was referring to Debbie’s post last May, following her visit to Toronto to speak at the inaugural mesh conference. She wrote about how great was the mesh experience, how much she enjoyed Toronto (her first visit) and mentioned meeting several people and re-meeting up with me. It was very kind of her at the time, but it also brings home the fact that “online is forever,” and that recruiters and potential employers are indeed using search vehicles to check you out: blog posts; comments on other blogs; articles published in mainstream media that mention your name; LinkedIn, MySpace and FaceBook profiles. So advice to your students: DO think about your long-term reputation before you post and comment on blogs. Your livelihood could depend on it.
Re: the job, it wasn’t the right one for me (either focus or location), but I did forward it on to some colleagues that I thought might be interested. And the recruiter and I have kept in touch, sharing interesting blogs and other information of mutual interest, etc. (He is quite interesting and amusing.) So this online experience has been a positive one.
Great advice, Judy. I agree with the Wall Street Journal article that blogs provide one of the more effective ways to control your online identity. Recent PR grads who have effectively created online personalities that helped move them into good jobs include Chris Clarke (Canada), Paull Young (Australia) and Erin Caldwell (U.S.)
I don’t know – Facebook got me on to CBC News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FW_MjLR66I
That can’t be all bad.
Nice to see, Omar, that your photo album has gone mainstream. It’s interesting to note that a thrust of the CBC piece was surveillance and cyber-bullying.
[...] done with my name on the World Wide Web! As Gary Schlee’s so fond of reminding us, there is no way to manage our net identities and what is, or eventually will be,out there can either help or hurt us. So how do I control [...]