Don't post it, and they won't find it | Bangkok Post: tech

SLOANRANGER

There are going to be a lot of people in just a few years from now who will look back on their social-media fun and go, "OMG, what was I thinking?" Or, to be more exact, "Why wasn't I thinking?"

Since there are a growing number of firms dedicated to digging up dirt on you, there are also companies starting up that promise to protect you.

It is still an infant industry, but people are getting rich and employers are getting satisfaction at searching out people's really dumb tweets, really thoughtless Facebook photos, really careless Flickr flicks, and fining them tens of thousands of dollars.

Okay, they are not literally fining them. They are just denying these people the really good jobs they could have had if they hadn't been so... well, dumb.

Here's the way it works. There's a person...let's say it's you. You go to a party and have a couple of drinks. Your inhibitions are down, so you post a few party pix on your Facebook photo page and put up some video where you're telling the latest hilarious racist jokes you read.

Then you apply for the dream job you saw on Monster.com. You've got the degree, you've got two years' experience. That company is impressed with your CV so it emails, oh, say, Social Intelligence Corp and asks them to check you out.

A day later, and it's "Don't call us, we won't call you" - your chances of getting that dream job are in the dustbin.

And there's a note in a lot of e-folders at a lot of other companies noting that you can't hold your drinks and that you're so un-PC that you could get a firm in trouble with your potty mouth.

Social Intelligence is a real company. It's creepy, it's a cyber-stalker, but it's real. And in companies around the world, advanced and advancing alike, organisations like Social Intelligence are having a real impact on hiring policies and human resources departments.

If you think this is paranoid and unlikely, consider why you're reading it in a newspaper, owned by a company listed on the stock exchange and run by big-time executives who gave me the idea. Where do you think they got the idea?

Two weeks ago, the Associated Press issued a memo to all staff, worldwide, urging them to keep their opinions private or risk being fired. The warning came after two journalists at this large US news agency tweeted their views on certain news events.

One of the subjects was a trial in Florida, which you may have heard about. A woman, Casey Anthony, was acquitted on charges of killing her daughter. It was one of those cases where "everyone" knew she was guilty. An AP journalist felt the acquittal was ridiculous and said so, forcefully, over Twitter.

Another staff member really hated the vote by the New York state legislature to legalise gay marriages - and tweeted on that issue.

Tom Kent, an AP phuyai, sent a no-nonsense memo to all of the agency's staff. "Opinions (by staff members) may damage the AP's reputation as an unbiased source of news," he warned. And, "Failure to abide by these rules can lead to disciplinary action."

So even if your Facebook page is clean today, and you get that great job, someone could rat you out, from now until retirement day, if you were to post something inappropriate later on.

It's all so Big Brother. It's all so offensive. But it is all so real.

"Social networks," wrote Mr Kent of the AP in his one-time warning to staff, "however we may configure our accounts or select our friends, should be considered a public forum." And of course they are.

When you e-socialise, think before posting.

Employers don't care if you got drunk one night and flashed passing cars. But they do care if you show signs that you drink, well, a lot. They do care if you are a crass loudmouth who sneers at other races. They do care if you laugh at sexual harassment.

And they don't care about you. They don't want someone with this sort of behaviour working for them because it might damage their reputation.

Trolling social media is going to be this decade's version of credit ratings - bank on it. Your mum may want to google that guy who asked you out this weekend, but the firms doing the searches of social media are a lot more thorough.

And it's wise to remember that you can't just make things disappear from the internet.

Only you can prevent nasty talk and inappropriate media from winding up on your social-media pages.

And there's a very easy way to block employers from finding inappropriate material on your Facebook, Twitter and other social pages: Don't put it there in the first place. It's your future. Protect it.