Facebook, Employment, and the Law

Just sent an email to a friend who is having a tough time getting his life turned around. The email suggested he may wish to change the photos he has on FaceBook. Most of them are of himself and / or friends who are "partying" - youthful parlance for drinking and having fun with their faculties impaired.

EMPLOYMENT

It was suggested he may want a new set of photos on his FaceBook page. After all future employers may very well (many do) take a look at the type of person they are hiring by doing a web search. FaceBook postings show up in most cases. Do a web search on "job lost due to facebook" and you will get 11,200,000 hits. Eleven MILLION plus Two Hundred Thousand hits.

Then I thought why not try a web search for "not hired due to FaceBook" and I got a shocker - 117,000,000 hits. That's One Hundred Seventeen Million hits. Ten times more than hits related to losing a job.

The web is telling all of us something and it is telling us that something loud and clear. What is it telling us? Look at your postings through the eyes of a future (or current) employer and ask yourself if you would hire this person based upon his or her FaceBook postings (or keep him or her when the time for cuts come).

Take a real hard look and then ask yourself with as much honesty as possible - will my posting help me or hurt me in the future when I need a job or a promotion or some more job security, when I am married and have children or simply want some security in life as you get older. Look to your future.

AND NOW THE LAW

If you ended up in court for any reason with the power of the state arrayed against you or not the state, but someone who is suing you for some reason, would your FaceBook posting help you, hurt you, or have no impact at all?

A web search of "do police look at FaceBook" got 241,000,000 hits. Two Hundred Forty-One Million hits. That bears repeating - Two Hundred Forty-One Million!

The number two hit? "Police increasingly use social networking websites for police work." If police are using it, you can bet any attorney hired to sue you would also be using it to research you.

WORD TO THE WISE

If you want to protect yourself and your job and your family and especially your future you will take a long hard look at what you are posting on FaceBook. Don't trust your eyes alone. Ask someone to take a look with. A trusted friend who is NOT a partying with you, instead someone who's opinion you respect when you need a strong dose of common sense.

POSTSCRIPT: INSURANCE

Decided at the last minute to take a look at "denied insurance because of facebook posting" and got over Eight Million Seven Hundred Thousand hits.