Group B- Naughty by Nature: What is on your Facebook?

With summer quickly approaching, a number of Ursinus students are trying to figure out their summer plans. Some take the summer for intellectual reprieve, others find themselves punching their tickets abroad, and the vast majority will find themselves searching for a job or internship. Competition is fierce. Each candidate in their 'Sunday-Best' waits anxiously outside an office to interview with a person who will be a teacher, an enforcer, and a check-writer. Their 'Sunday-Best' includes not only their nicest clothes, but a meticulously written resume, that explains the immense learning experience that they underwent with their first job at Chic-fil-a, how school clubs and community service show they are well rounded and worldly, and how their GPA shows they can crush it in the classroom. This idea of who they are is their professional self that craves achievement and success. However, this priming for professionalism does not stay at the office anymore, it has infiltrated the online world, especially Facebook.

In Smarter Than You Think, Clive Thompson highlights a "free-floating anxiety" that relates to who sees an online profile(236).  He highlights how "an utterance that seems innocuous now could wind up making you look foolish years later" (236). Which is an ever growing concern for Facebook users seeking jobs especially for college students. There is always an audience and their are always critics for frequent users. While it may be true that one can gain much insight into a person's character by checking out their Facebook through ambient awareness, steps are being taken to combat future trouble. No longer can one post of his or her drinking triumphs, nor can one post jokingly without an individual taking it the wrong way. Therefore, college students put more effort into keeping their Facebook "clean" than meets the eye. I have the privacy setting on my Facebook where I have to approve anything that I am tagged in. There is also the ever popular trend of first name middle name combo instead of first and last. As well as a Facebook cleanse prior to an interview. There is a need to be presentable and to have an online self that Mom and Dad would be proud of and that Mr. CEO would want to hire. There is less of a real representation of who people are on Facebook and more of a crafted ideal self. It is a reality that people can be fired over Facebook. As explained by a Huffington Post article by Ramona Emerson, nobody is safe. From a Doctor that posted too much detail on a patient, to a teenager that posted about how boring a job is, Social Media can be a huge threat to workplace longevity. Best advice for online expression? Age old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all" and maybe untag a few photos for the sake of dignity.

While being an immediate threat to today's workers, Thompson seemed to think that Facebook censoring it may not be a long term trend.  He said, "If everyone posts pictures of their youthful revels online, in twenty years the 'running for president' problem may evaporate"(239).  Maybe in 20 years it will not be a big deal that there are pictures of a presidential candidate shotgunning a beer, because his or her opponent has compromising pictures of Spring Break 2014. Even more support for this claim comes from The Scientific American article by Roni Jacobson who detailed that the compromise in privacy that is associated with employer Facebook stalking is actually driving candidates away from jobs. Potential employees felt as though they were not trusted and that they would not be trusted once they got the job. Some, even filed lawsuits because lines for social media discrimination are not very concrete. If enough legal action is taken, and enough candidates favor non social media stalking companies, maybe it will be safe again to post pictures from the bar. Though I hope that employers stay off my Facebook, I highly doubt it will ever happen completely because it is the holy grail for personal publicity whether it is positive or negative. If I were an employer I would probably want to know what I was getting myself into by hiring a person. I'd rather have a wild party starter that has the common sense to keep it off Facebook, than one who posts it all over. Facebook is useful to HR departments and I do not see that changing unlike Thompson.

What I am curious about is how much thought goes into constructing a social media site these days? Do people feel as though there are expectations on how they ought to act on these sites? What I am most curious about is hearing about what you think elections will be like when we are of age. I personally think that they will be mug slinging hate fests with each opponent searching for the worst photo, that can crumble a campaign. I disagree with Thompson who thinks things will go away. If we are the "micro-celebrities" he says we are, there is no doubt that status updates will be spun negatively, in ways that speeches are spun today for political gain because someone is always watching. The only thing that might happen, is that people will continue to meticulously craft their profiles as they do now to make it harder and harder to catch a glimpse into their real thoughts, feelings and motivations. As for now, I'll try my best to keep things clean online and hope that come interview time my profile reflects my "Sunday-Best".