Will social-networking sites come back to haunt?
November 21st, 2006 by Wendy McAuliffe
This may seem like an obvious point, and I’m sure others have made it before me, but should social-networking sites come attached with a health warning against posting content that you may look back on and regret in a few years time?
The issue was brought to my attention by a high-profile internet safety expert (I’m not sure if he’d like to be named), who is concerned that teenagers posting revealing personal information about themselves on social networks such as MySpace and Bebo now, will live to regret it further down the line when they come to apply for their first full-time jobs etc.
In many ways it’s a similar dilemma to getting a tattoo. It may be a fun thing to do at the time when you’re young and care-free, but will it still be cool to your blue-chip employer in five years time?
After years of working in the Internet industry, I’m still not entirely sure of the technicalities surrounding log files etc, but as I understand it, the majority of internet content is always retrievable. This means that the personal spaces of teenagers today will remain searchable for years to come - something that they might not be considering now.
I am sure employers are already using social-networking sites to carry out background checks on potential employees - this is nothing new. But it will be interesting to see if this becomes a bigger differentiator in the future.
