Social Networking Paranoia and the Hiring Process

Have you ever walked into an interview and wondered if the panel had some advance knowledge of your personal life based on freely and readily available information on the web?  By now, you have probably entered your name into Google at least once to find out what information about you is floating around in the aether waiting to be plucked by a curious mind.  My name is uncommon, but not rare.  I'm not at the top of the search results.  I could tweak my query and add a few keywords that might uncover something about my unique existence in the seemingly infinite amount of data in the semantic web.

I have a Facebook account.  Should someone want to seek me out based on a job application or resume, it would be possible.  I have taken advantage of Facebook's privacy settings and I feel insulated from information leaks.  I do not share anything scandalous.  One might be able to see a thumbnail picture of me and glean educational information from my profile, but that's it.  One time, a student asked me why I had a Facebook profile.  I was honored to be the object of a teenager's information hunt, and asked, why did you look me up?  Unsurprisingly, the student had looked up all of her teachers.  Good research methodology, I suppose.  No longer feeling special, I told her that I have a personal life and I try to keep it private.  Out of curiosity, I asked her if she got any information about me.  She told me that I was completely private.  However, a few of my colleagues were not as well guarded about their information and that they were "kind of creepy" according to this student.

It seems like every week I read at least one story about the lack of professionalism in our vocation.  Teacher sex scandals.  Embezzling teachers.  Administrative improprieties.  The list goes on and on.  Every so often, I'll find a "Teacher fired because of Myspace account" or "Teacher shares too much information on Facebook."  With the rise of Twitter and other microblogging platforms, it's not long before "Teacher tweets about drunken escapades" becomes a headline somewhere.  Here are just a few examples of this phenomenon:

• When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web
• Teacher Disciplined for Facebook Postings
• Fla. Teacher Fired Over MySpace page

Just search for "teacher fired myspace" or "teacher fired facebook," get yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy an exciting evening of schadenfreude.

If you still feel the need to interact on the social web, please use common sense and adhere to the following rules:

1. Secure your information!
2. Present yourself as a professional.
3. Pick out a nice profile picture for yourself.
4. Use proper English, especially if you are an English teacher.
5. Do not share racy photos, incendiary gossip, or tales of unprofessional behavior.
6. Do not link to inappropriate content.
7. If you wouldn't say it in your classroom, don't say it at all.

Students, parents, colleagues,  administrators, and human resources personnel can access your information whenever they please if you choose to share it on these social networking sites.  Tread lightly.  Connect with your friends, enjoy the wonders of the internet, but do not take privacy for granted.

Thinking on this subject brought me to the following questions.  If you feel like sharing your thoughts, proceed with caution.  You never know who might be reading this blog!

What happens when you submit an online application?  Where does the information go?  Who has access to it?

Would you do your "homework" on an applicant before inviting him in for an interview?

Tags: facebook phobia, interviewing, myspace phobia, personal information, social networking paranoia, teachers' personal lives, twitter phobia

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.