Social Media Background Checks

So the other day I was sitting in my capstone class and the professor was giving the class his 2 cents on what and what not to do in job interviews, first jobs etc.  He brought up an interesting concept I have never heard of (although I shouldn't be at all surprised).  He brought up the process of social media background checks, which fits well with my previous post.

It is common knowledge that employers often look up their potential candidates on Facebook and other social media sites.  The practice of social media background checks is simply when a business hires an outside company to do extensive background checks via social media sites on their applicants.  Companies like Social Intelligence do just this.

When my professor mentioned this it actually had me concerned and after class I looked back on my Facebook posts and deleted a few that I thought could be conceived as distasteful.  It also prompted me to do a little research and find out exactly what kind of dirt these background checks can dig up on you.

These companies have complicated algorithms that collect any information, whether or not it's text, pictures or videos, on you that could be seen as "not ideal."  The scary thing is is that this process can go deeper than just your Facebook alone.  Some of these data mining algorithms go much deeper and collect information from blogs you have posted in, youtube comments you have made, forums you have posted in, etc.  Kind of makes you feel like your privacy is being broken.

I know for me this was, in a way, very eye-opening because I didn't realize businesses had these sort of resources at their disposal.  I shouldn't be surprised with social media exploding like it has been and the job market getting tougher and tougher.

All I know is I have a lot of moderating to do.  Looking back at some of my posts from even a year ago, I think to myself "What the hell was I thinking posting crap like this?"

Until next week...

Chris