Who Are You?

Following up on my musings about anonymity,the NYTimes has an article today on social networking sites and online personas:

When a small consulting company in Chicago was looking to hire a summer intern this month, the company's president went online to check on a promising candidate who had just graduated from the University of Illinois.

At Facebook, a popular social networking site, the executive found the candidate's Web page with this description of his interests: "smokin' blunts" (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex, all described in vivid slang.

It did not matter that the student was clearly posturing. He was done.

"A lot of it makes me think, what kind of judgment does this person have?" said the company's president, Brad Karsh. "Why are you allowing this to be viewed publicly, effectively, or semipublicly?"

Many companies that recruit on college campuses have been using search engines like Google and Yahoo to conduct background checks on seniors looking for their first job. But now, college career counselors and other experts say, some recruiters are looking up applicants on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and Friendster, where college students often post risqué or teasing photographs and provocative comments about drinking, recreational drug use and sexual exploits in what some mistakenly believe is relative privacy.

When viewed by corporate recruiters or admissions officials at graduate and professional schools, such pages can make students look immature and unprofessional, at best.

We actually had an interesting e-mail debate  at Champlain college about what kind of advice we should be giving students in this regard.  I just lurked because I'm just an adjunct and because I'm the posterchild for how NOT to blog in many ways.  In the end people resolved to caution students along the lines of what the article shows: what you say ain't private and can undermine you.

It does make me wonder how "fair" it is to make judgments on somebody's character based on their online persona.  In my case, I do project pretty much the same half-assed, ADD personality that I have in real life, complete with all the unnecessary cursing, but does how I talk or act at home really have any bearing on what an employer should be/is looking for?  If there weren't an Internet, would they stake out my house to see if I conform to their ideal template of employee homelife?

So what makes my sharing slices of life and NToddness online different?  Oh, because Google can pick it up, they now have free rein to delve deep into my psyche as they consider me for a job?  Granted I could "show good judgment" and not place myself so far out there, but why?  If you forget to lock your door and somebody robs your place, surely you're responsible to a certain degree, but the burglar is still guilty of a crime no matter what your failings.

Along those lines, considering all the "outings" that have happened recently, does it matter that there is public information out there you can tie to a particular blogger?  Is that reason enough to then compile all the data and broadcast it far and wide (particularly when it has nothing to do with the argument at hand)?  Hardly.

We make fun of Online Integrity because their Pledge is pure CYA bullshit, and merely a rhetorical weapon they can wield in the "civility wars".  However, the principles are at heart good, and ones I would think we all share and wouldn't need to pledge to any more than we agree to not murder each other.  It would be nice if this Ethic would extend to all online interactions, including employers using Google.

As I said, I pretty much blog "the wrong way".  I've always used my real name in short or long form and have owned everything I say, thoughtful and thoughtless, civil and incivil, professional and personal.  So clearly I don't see the big deal, and perhaps that will bite me in the ass sometime.

On my company's internal blog we were discussing guidelines for posting and commenting on our public site, Living In A Connected World.  Somebody suggested that you don't use language you'd be embarassed to have your mom read.  Of course that wouldn't really work for me, and to illustrate I posted a link to something I wrote about iPods and porn.

Yup, my mom and dad read the blog, as do a number of friends, colleagues, students, and even my higherups.  They all know me--or ultimately get to know me--so what's to hide?

I'm not suggesting that everybody air their dirty laundry online.  It's still a personal choice of how much to share, which is why I'm very angered by the nasty stuff that's happened recently.  Blowing somebody's cover takes away their choice.  Could the bloggers do more to protect their identities?  Of course, but why should they have to if we're all civilized and mature and shit?

And perhaps it's a different issue for graduates just starting out than it is for somebody who's been in an industry for a long time and thus already has some amount of street cred that allows people to overlook certain...eccentricities.  Or maybe not.  Dunno.

I guess I'm just annoyed that it's somehow bad to be who you are.  But that's life, ain't it?

Speaking of life, I gotta get moving.  Taking Mex to Summer Camp again in a few hours, then hopping on a jetplane bound for LAX.  Blogging will be scattered and light for about a week.

ntodd