FaceBook, LinkedIn, and MySpace —–The opportunities to join the wave of social networks are seemingly endless. Not wanting to be left behind, I jumped in feet first and joined all the popular social networks and posted all sorts of information about my likes and dislikes.

Like many people I joined Facebook as a way to connect with old friends and to make new connections. I populated ‘my page” with information about where I live, my gender, my marital status, my desire to meet new people, my birth date, hometown, political views, religion, my favorite activities, favorite TV shows, favorite films, music preferences, contact information, and a simple bio. All this stuff is for my “friends” of which I now have 115 most whom I have known from work.

In much the same way, I have done this for LinkedIn—I now have 300 “friends” on this more “business like” network. My work history is openly displayed; all you have to do is do a search for my name and you too can know too much about me. A number of colleagues have given me recommendations and they are openly posted for the world to see.

I also have dabbled with MySpace and even added special music and photos of my car to make me seem cool for the younger folks (of course, that did not work and I am still a geek). My kids just laugh at my MySpace website.

I got a call from a recruiter who viewed my “public” profile and wanted to talk to me about a SVP of Sales job at a startup. The truth is I am not looking for a job and I am very happy with my portfolio of entrepreneurial activities: writing, consulting, teaching, and my other assorted businesses. Yet, this call is clear evidence that social networking works.

Yes, you can say that I am a real player in the social media space. But, here is the rub. The recruiter already knew all about me….I mean everything. He knew where I had worked before, my interest in horses, co-workers that had recommended me, and my current activities. Candidly, he knew too much about me and it is my own damn fault. I disclosed all this crap on these networking websites—yep, I am really a player or, should I say, I am really a chump,

You need to ask your self, do you really want new friends (i.e. strangers) to have access to your vacation pictures, political views, and thoughts about religion? What if the reader is a web pirate building up a dossier in preparation for identity theft? Be aware that there are bad guys out there who prey on those who put themselves out on the web.

Or, in my case, a potential employer who might view photos of yours truly in compromising positions while vacationing in Cancun? OK, I have never been to Cancun, but you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, a former employee of mine and a “friend” just sent me a FaceBook “news feed” showing pictures of her at a bachelorette party stuffing dollar bills down a male stripper’s thong. She seemed to be having a great time, but what image does this portray to a potential employer doing a background check? Might it kill the job offer? I think it might.

My recommendation is to make sure your public profile on these websites is purged of any information that might be controversial or extreme, since your next employer might be viewing it. Or, maybe a web pirate might be watching.

Bah. Humbug.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

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