You are what you Facebook
Jamie Gillingham // March 30, 2012
If it’s just Facebook, then I’m just Ryan Gosling.
I was riding the bus recently and overheard/was eavesdropping on a conversation in which a seemingly reasonable girl said ‘Ah well, it’s only Facebook’ in regards to, as she put it, the latest ‘drams’ in her life. So, I’m curious, by a show of ‘Likes’, how many have overheard a friend, colleague, or just a stranger say ‘It’s only Facebook’?
Exactly.
So, that got me thinking – at what point does it stop being ‘just Facebook’ and start being ‘stop screwing up your life and letting the whole world see’?
It’s no secret (and if it is, you have larger problems than this article may be able to solve) that social media is running rampant through every sector, era, demographic, environment – you name it – and Facebook has put a ‘Like’ button on it. Whether you ‘Share’ it, ‘Like’ it, ‘Tweet’ it, or ‘Pin’ it the odds that someone, somewhere, of some importance will see whatever drabble you’re spewing into the world are quite high.
For instance, when asked ‘Do you use social networking sites to screen prospective employees?’ 91 per cent of employers said ‘Yes’. The other nine per cent have since closed down shop. (I made that second stat up but it seems likely, nonetheless.) More importantly, when asked ‘Have you ever rejected a candidate because of what you saw about them on a social networking site?’ 69 per cent of employers said, you guessed it, ‘Yes’. So, this goes to show that loss of dignity might not be the only result from the picture of you funneling tequila down your throat.
Does this mean you have to be a prudish goody two-shoes? No. Employers know that you enjoy a fun night out as much as the rest of us. But they also know where the line between work and play is drawn. It’s why they’re successful and you, consequently, may not be. And believe it or not, some good may actually come from deciding not to post a picture of yourself ‘inappropriately dancing’ with the Michelin Man. 68 per cent of employers who were asked ‘Have you ever hired a candidate because of what you saw of a social networking site?’ said ‘Yes.’ and you can bet it had just as much to do with that they didn’t see.
So, the way I see it is, you have two choices: completely boycott social media and forever live in the black abyss that is postcards OR get a grip, stop tweeting about your ‘drams’ and present a self that in 5 years you won’t cringe at the thought of. The time when a disconnect was thought to exist between the person you are in real life and the person you are on social media is gone, gone like your chance at a job if you keep posting about ‘that w*&^$ your boyfriend slept with.’
