Facebook and the Workplace

As I am narrowing down my summer internship opportunities, I stumbled across an article discussing how applicants are being asked to share their Facebook passwords during an interview. Also, many companies are beginning to put a social media policy into place to protect their organization.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1668368/

According to a March 22^nd Forbes article, employers are asking potential hires to log onto their Facebook site in order to narrow down applicants. I understand that employers would like to have an understanding of what is happening online with their employees but is it too far to ask a potential employee for their password? Apparently, Maryland believes to think so. As stated in the April 16^th Washington Post article, “Employers cannot require workers and job applicants to turn over passwords to private social media accounts as a condition of employment, state legislators decided last week in the passage of a first-of-its-kind bill.” Other states that are trying to pass a similar bill are California, Illinois and Michigan.

Even though the job market is steadily improving some applicants are not able to deny access to their potential employers. There are some social media sites such as LinkedIn where I would have no problem being connected to my future employer. However, Facebook is my personal space where I am allowed to have more interactions with my friends. I am not stating that my site is inappropriate but it is more personal than my other social media profiles. I would feel comfortable friending a boss or co-worker on Facebook but I would not give up my password. I am not alone, according to a March 2012 Fox News article, 26% of younger workers (age 18-34) are more likely to friend their boss on Facebook.

www.agbeat.com

There have been numerous scandals involving politicians, journalists and celebrities regarding their use of social media. Many media outlets and large corporations have a social media policy in place but more average companies are starting to develop them as well. Companies are implementing these policies to protect themselves from potential rumors starting online. It is easier to accept a social media policy once you are employed versus during an interview.

“If you wouldn’t ask your employees for a key to their personal storage unit, their bank account password…you shouldn’t ask for first hand access to their Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or any account. Your having their password is against the policies of these social networks, even if you think it’s ethical (which it is not, even if you’re well meaning).” –AG Beat, March 2012

The issue of social media in the workplace and employers is going to be a continuous battle. As for now, I suggest you un-tag yourself from freshman year pictures and be ready for a future friend request from your boss.

Are we really friends?

The average number of Facebook friends a user has 245. This raises the question, can you really be friends with all these people. The use of social networks has allowed users to maintain their friendships with more people. However, the concept of ambient awareness develops as well. Ambient awareness is when you feel as though you are close with someone because of the constant updates on a social networking site.

Facebook allows me to know who my friends are with, Twitter lets me know when they are hungry, Pinterest displays their dinner recipe ambition, and Flickr shows me how it actually turned out. But the question is, do you really care? Probably not. Social networking sites and “check-in” apps make us believe that all this useless information is actually important.

"This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting." – New York Times, 2008

http://blog.ketchum.com/

Along with social networking sites, apps are becoming popular to keep tabs on your social circle’s whereabouts. According to the March 2012 Yahoo! article, the new apps are different from Facebook check-ins and Foursquare. “Ambient awareness apps help users discover friends, friends of friends or strangers who share similar interests who are in your vicinity.” There a wide variety of these ambient awareness apps are available now a few of them are, Banjo, Intro, and Sonar.

Personally, the thought of my friends knowing where I am at all times freaks me out but there are times it could be useful. When I got my first Twitter account I had a hard time figuring out what to tweet about because I didn’t think anything I had to say would be interesting enough. To be honest, it probably isn’t but I still tweet multiple times a day. My friends feel as though they are connected with me and know exactly what is going on in my life due to the constant micro-blog updates.

The use of the social networks and apps and the concept of ambient awareness are strengthening our weak tie relationships. We are able to send birthday wishes to high school classmates we haven’t spoken to since graduation or view pictures from your former boss’ weekend vacation. Even though the constant pointless updates from these people fill our news feeds everyday, it is actually developing a sense of closeness with each other. Just don’t admit to your weak tie next time you see them that you already know everything they have been up to.