Employers Going Beyond Surface with Facebook Profiles

JOHNNY HUYNH
Staff Writer

In more recent years, the traditional job, college or scholarship application goes beyond an interview and filling out blank spaces on paperwork. A background check may even encompass something other than a criminal record or a drug test.
According to the job search site CareerBuilder.co.uk, at least 53 percent of employers use social networking sites as a basis to evaluate potential employees. Meanwhile, 24 percent of college admissions officers are using the same sources for applicants, according to a Kaplan Test Prep survey. In addition, 75 percent of scholarship providers also participate in such evaluations, as surveyed by FastWeb.com and the National Scholarship Providers Association.
Occasionally, these institutions would ask individuals to “friend” them on Facebook so “friends only” and “private” posts would also be available for viewing. Sometimes, individuals are asked to hand over their usernames and passwords for constant monitoring.
At the University of North Carolina, each sports team must have a staff member be “responsible for having access to and regularly monitoring the content of team members’ social networking sites and postings.”
Though social media observation is meant to maintain an institution’s reputation, it brings about issues dealing with rightful civil liberties, such as free speech and privacy.
While such practices persist, activist groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), oppose to individuals being demanded to give away their Facebook passwords, suggesting that employers actually violate the rights of individuals.
Whenever an individual decides to set up a Facebook account, they need to indicate that they agree to a set of acknowledged rules in a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. One of the acknowledgements includes not giving away one’s password when one is the sole owner of an account nor “solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.”
“Giving away [your] usernames and passwords is just not right, […] you should be able to keep it to yourself,” junior Devonne Hwang said.
As a common safety tip, one may be told that to keep in mind that Facebook is still a social networking site. Everything that is posted is not always privately concealed.