The Serious Topic of Internet Hygiene

I'm happy to be judged by the content of this blog. I have an intense work ethic, and believe in using idle time to create beautiful and useful things. I want to inspire others and motivate myself. I feel it my duty to remain outwardly positive, even while facing challenges in my life. These are the qualities that I bring to work; any employer should be happy to have such qualities in an employee.

I bring this up because the past few days have been taken up by job searching instead of making. Part of looking for work is making sure one has a positive web-presence. Therefore, I'm conducting the arduous task of scrubbing my timeline on Facebook.

Recently, Facebook started the practice of linking "likes" on pages to articles that the person may not have read, then posting them to friends' pages with the "liker's" name above it. The site is also generating likes for mentions in comments. Potentially, I could end up seeming to "like" something that goes completely against my principles or those of a company that might hire me.

Here's the full story.

Facebook also removed the ability to disallow sharing of photos by friends from my account, a measure I used to prevent photos of me from being seen by others outside my personal network. While I'm not the kind of person who indulges in beer bongs or naked bike rides, I do feel that people should not be judged on what they share with people who know them in context; nor should people be judged by their profile picture, as it reveals your relative age, race, gender and attractiveness. Employers who "check up" on potential job candidates on such sites need a lesson in ethics and law.

So why do I still use it? I enjoy connecting with my far-flung friends and family. I appreciate the ability to create and be invited to events. I like seeing the news of the world in aggregated form. I have troves of wedding pictures that I would otherwise have missed but for my friends sharing on the site. (I download them and remove the tags.) I love following George Takei. It's nice to "crowd source" when I need help on a project. In other words, Facebook is a tool, and it still has some use when used properly.

I'm happy to share the automated techniques I use with anyone who wants to keep their personal life private while not losing the ability to connect. My advice if you use Facebook mainly as a way to connect with your work network; make sure you take precautions. Always be positive. Never complain about work openly. Keep your politics and religion to yourself. Don't assume that "Groups" or limited posts will always be that way. Be professional, because that is the face you are required to put forward.

Back to work.