FaceBook: Friend or Foe?

If you’re a student, recent graduate, millenial, Y-gen member, or all of the above, then you’ve definitely heard of FaceBook and probably used it. FaceBook has grown from nothing just a few short years ago to huge today, and it continues to grow in leaps and bounds. So what is it?
FaceBook is a social networking site, somewhat like MySpace and many of the others, but it is THE social networking site for college students. And should be. Working with many of the colleges and universities across the country, FaceBook has created a network of sites with each site being specific to each school. To gain access to a FaceBook site for a particular school, you need to have a valid university email address. So students, staff, faculty, and sometimes alumni can access their own school’s FaceBook site, but they will have only very limited access to the FaceBook sites at other schools.

FaceBook has become so popular that its name is used as a verb. Students talk about “FaceBooking” someone to find out more about them because a large number of students at each of their schools will register and enter information about themselves. They can then use that information to find people on-campus with similar interests. If you’re really into hockey (either you are or you will be someday), then you can find others on-campus who are also interested in hockey. If you’re an electrical engineer, you can network with other electrical engineers. Sounds pretty benign so far, right? Right. But here’s where FaceBook can become a foe.
Some students mistakenly believe that FaceBook is only used by other students and only for social reasons. Wrong. FaceBook is also being used by a very small number of web savvy employers to help them conduct background checks on applicants. Say you’re a student at XYZ College and you apply to work for ABC Company. In all likelihood, someone at ABC Company attends or is an alumni of XYZ College. A recruiter can simply ask that person to log into FaceBook, pull up your profile, and look at your profile. If your profile is benign, no problem. But if your profile contains information about your dating practices, illegal activities, and other such controversial or problematic issues, then at best the recruiter is going to have some questions for you that will be difficult to answer and at worst they’ll simply decline to hire you.
So, should you stay away from FaceBook and sites like it? Absolutely not. They’re great. But like anything else good in life, they should be used in moderation and with care. Simply put, don’t post information on-line anywhere that you would want to keep secret from anyone at anytime in your life.