Posted on 06/20/2011 3:07:56 PM PDT by PubliusInFlorida
If you’re still not using any of the privacy settings on Facebook, here’s the most compelling reason why you need to change that as soon as possible. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has given the thumbs up to Social Intelligence Corp, which keeps files of Facebook users’ posts as part of a background-checking service for screening job applicants. The FTC decided Social Intelligence complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the same set of rules that keeps your bill-payment records on file with the consumer bureaus for seven years, according to Forbes. That’s how long your social media postings remain in Social Intelligence’s records. Even if you delete an embarrassing photo or bawdy status update, the material could stay in your file for seven years, during which time it might be used against you if a prospective employer were to use the agency’s services to screen applicants. This ups the ante on prospective employers simply Googling you or even looking for you on Facebook and other sites — by now, many job hunters know enough to clean up their profiles when looking for work. Social Intelligence would have the goods on you before you cleaned up your online act, dating back seven years. We can only suspect that if Social Intelligence has the go-ahead to operate in this capacity, other start-ups might follow. That’s all the more reason to err on the safe side and use Facebook’s privacy settings to their fullest. Readers, does learning about services like Social Intelligence make you want to recheck your security settings or start using them if you haven’t done so already?
They have a canine’s version of Facebook now....called FaceBark.
I have no use for either.
tag
Glad I’ve never used Facebook.
However, I wonder whether we have reached the point to where NOT being on Facebook would be considered a ‘negative’ by a potential employer.
Big brother on steriods.
Another reason to not use FB.
Great....add another 250,000 to the unemployment ranks.
FB just opens you up to all sorts of nasty stuff. Nope, don’t want anything to do with it.
“However, I wonder whether we have reached the point to where NOT being on Facebook would be considered a ‘negative’ by a potential employer.”
Yes...because obviously you are anti-social.
Just don’t post pics of your latest party.....or of where you live or what you live in, or what possessions you have. Don’t post your political views, religious views or personal views. Don’t make friends with people you don’t know in real life.
The Founders spin in their graves as Tyranny increases daily.
For that matter, what’s to keep an employer from requiring you to open up your privacy settings so they can see it?
The company I work for has a policy that says you can’t say anything about them on social media without permission, although I don’t think they’ve ever tried to enforce it. I don’t talk about my job and I’m not friends with any of the clowns from work anyway.
It’s hard not to use it.
I’ve never liked facebook, but lots of friends do, and after a lot of cajoling, I signed up. The non-privacy attitude of folks on the site scared me. They post maiden names, schools they went to, things they like, causes, etc, and they are very easy to see, especially if you have a mutual friend, and even if you don’t.
People will write they underwent surgery. They always go to certain places. Etc.
Dangerous.
I finally gave in and created a RL F/B page so I can stay in touch with my family and a VERY SMALL circle of friends.
I lied about my b/date and post NO information (I email people — no posts, no “likes,” no comments, no nothing) and have all the privacy settings to the highest possible settings. The underlying email address has my name in it but I delete all emails (inbound and outbound) every day and clear spam.
Even so, I am already being spammed 10X from before when I joined (even with all the so-called “security” settings) and have random “friend me” requests from people I have never heard of (I block them) and am seriously thinking it was a bad idea.
I can’t believe how much information my friends and family post on FB. It would take a child of 12 to put it all together to create an identity close enough to the RL people to be accepted, friended then run with the fake ID.
I love my family and respect my friends but they are all dumber than dirt.
God damned stupid if you ask me. I've gotten into arguments with a relative of mine that's a LEO - he loves putting pics of his wife, kids, the kids soccer games, vacation spots, etc. on FB.
Like no one with a grudge might ever seek retaliation.
Idiots are just BEGGING to have their identities stolen and used for bad when they post every possible inanity on FB.
All it takes is one “right click” and it's saved forever.
The Facebook haters will flock to this thread like moths to a light.
Facebook is no more dangerous than FR. Just lock it down and don’t share your social security number.
You folks think your anonymous hiding behind a screen name?
Ha!
Stolen identities? I can get more information about you from the county auditor’s website than I can from Facebook!
Go shoo some children out of your yard and take your Geritol.
And it’s the left click not right click.
The whole point of Facebook is to put things out there for people to see.
My future employer will be looking at my Peony’s and Asiatic Lilies.
Even if you do use all the privacy settings, Facebook can, and has, many times, turn the settings off without notifying its customers. If you're not monitoring your page, etc. on a daily basis, your stuff could be exposed and you'd never know.
FB sucks.
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