As regular readers of this Blog know, one of my passions is social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. And one of my greatest concerns about Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites are how they're being used by employers. I think that they should be used by employers to include candidates in the hiring process rather than excluding them. In other words, employers who want to hire electrical engineering students in Virginia should search the social networking sites for candidates who have indicated that they live in Virginia and are enrolled in electrical engineering programs. But many and probably most employers who are using these sites are using them as part of their background checking process, which means that those employers are only using the sites to exclude candidates from the hiring process.

I've been asked to serve as an expert witness in cases involving candidates who were not hired or who were terminated as a result of the information or photos that they posted to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. So far, it appears that no such case has yet gone to trial, but that will change. I hope that the outcomes of these cases will be that the still fuzzy legal issues become clearer so that more employers will know that they can and should use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to include candidates in the hiring process rather than excluding them during background checks or even firing them.