NBC Interview on Facebook

Since its premiere in 2004, Facebook has grown to be one of the most popular social networking sites. With an estimated 150,000 new users a day, Facebook provides the ability to connect with friends using pictures, applications, and messaging allows for a new type of communicating for all ages. What most students don’t realize however, are the implications of what they send out into cyberspace while using Facebook. Not only are more and more employers using Facebook as a tool to screen potential employees, but uploaded pictures from users are being sent out into a network so large that it’s virtually impossible to trace where they go or who will see them.

Facebook gives the following warning in their privacy policy:

“When you use Facebook, certain information you post or share with third parties (e.g., a friend or someone in your network), such as personal information, comments, messages, photos, videos, Marketplace listings or other information, may be shared with other users in accordance with the privacy settings you select. All such sharing of information is done at your own risk. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in your profile or when posting comments, messages, photos, videos, Marketplace listings or other items, this information may become publicly available.”

When Facebook was first created, it was aimed solely available for the use of college students. Beginning in 2006, Facebook opened itself to the public, and created an atmosphere of connectivity and an access to all types of personal information. A popular feature of the site is the ability to make your profile private, so that users who are not “friends” or within your network are only able to see your profile picture, but none of your information. This is a great way to protect your information; however, there are exceptions to this privacy setting. Facebook’s privacy statement says the following:

“We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law…..This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.”

While Facebook will not disclose your personal information to a prospective employer, it’s not uncommon for many companies to have their own network set up through Facebook and therefore be able to view it your profile through that network. This has become a growing trend, with some companies like Ernst & Young Consulting Co. having nearly 16,000 employees on their network. Citigroup is another large company on Facebook with an 8,500 employee network.

When it comes to hiring, some employers believe Facebook has the tools to aide them in finding the right person for the job. Confirming background information is one of the major reasons employers might check your profile for information. When applicants include their interests on resumes, employers can look at their online profile to see if the information online supports their resume. It’s also a great way for employers to get a sense of your personality. Some can argue, however, that the information available through a Facebook profile could potentially cause a prejudice which could cost applicants a job. Information such as sexual orientation and political affiliation should remain discreet, and with a surge of employers checking their profiles, that information is readily becoming available.

On the reverse, there are many companies who frown upon not only using Facebook to screen applicants, but web use as a whole by employees. A poll performed by Cnet.com found the following:

• 53% of businesses currently restrict employee web surfing via automated web filtering systems
• 65% of businesses expect to enforce web surfing restrictions in 2008, a nearly 23% growth from year to year.

You may wonder why a company would do this when so many new and helpful resources are now available on the internet. The same poll delivered the following responses:

• 70% of businesses do so for virus or spyware protection
• 52% restrict web surfing due to employee productivity drain.

Products like Barracuda Web Filters are used to prevent employees from having access to certain sites, and the Cnet.com poll showed that Facebook has a 26% block from Barracuda’s users. This makes sense when you consider that Facebook draws close to 30 million visitors every month, and according to an article on msnbc.com, office workers represent the fastest-growing demographic.

While Facebook can be harmful if you are not selective about the material you choose to share, it also provides several helpful professional applications for its users. As of May 2008, Facebook had 1,122 Business applications, with some of them having thousands of users daily. One fantastic application actually allows students to apply for select colleges without ever having to leave the Facebook site. Looking for help with your resume? Facebook has three Resume applications; “My Resume”, “Resume Factory” and “Resume Central”. All three applications allow you to upload your resume and share it with friends and possible employers. Friends can submit your resume for you once it is uploaded and personal recommendations often land users jobs or internships. Another application aimed at job seekers is “Job Interview Questions,” which contains some of the more common questions asked to allow user to prepare for their next interview.

While some can argue that Facebook is hurting its users who don’t realize that the information provided is not just shared, but widely spread to all edges of the virtual unknown, it also contains several helpful assets that users can take advantage of. The main issue that users of any social network need to be aware of is that what goes online stays there. It doesn’t matter if you take it off, somewhere; somehow, it can still be made available to other users. If you are cautious about the type of information you share within these networks, you have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain from these useful pieces of technology.

Timson, Lia. “Employers block Facebook at their peril.” iTWire.com. 16 April, 2008.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17690/50

Loten, Angus. “Employers pulling the plug on Facebook.” MSNBC.com. 6 May, 2008.

http://www.msnbc.com/id/23749011

“Employers Look at Facebook, Too.” CBSNews.com. 20 June, 2006.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/20/eveningnews

It’s finally here! I am really excited to present our project, but I can’t be completely 100% honest when I say this has been an easy road. My section of this project was to focus on the professional implications that can occur from Facebook use. I conducted a survey at the University of Oregon which was really helpful, and complied a TON of information using various articles and a really awesome video that I found on College Recruiter. Adam went and did a survey as well with video equipment, and made a really great video of all the responses he got. I think it will make a really nice addition to our project. He also had access to a mac website, and that is what we are using to present our information. I think it will be a really great way to showcase all that we have found. Josh focused on the history of Facebook, and since I want to be honest here, I had some issues with this during the past week. We set deadlines for ourselves as a group so we could peer edit each other’s work and make sure the whole project sounded as one. However, I never actually saw Josh’s work until this morning at 7 a.m. His piece sounds really great, but it worried Adam and I tremendously that we didn’t even hear from him until yesterday, not to mention, didn’t receive his part of the project until today. That said, I think it will all come together really well, and I know all of us are really happy with what we came up with.

Overall this project was a lot of fun, and I think I did a really good job finding lots of diverse and new information that can be really helpful to not only the students in our class, but anyone who views it. The one issue I am concerned with, is the overall flow of our writing styles coming together. I hope that it reads well and that it one thing I would like you to take a look at. Thanks!

For their final project this term, Sarah Foster, Adam Schwartz and Josh Harlukowicz decided to take an in-depth look at one of the largest social networks available; Facebook. Since its launch in 2004, this site has quickly grown to be immensely popular with not only students, but the general public. This project offers a look at the different effects Facebook can have on college students that they may or may not be aware of. Professional and psychological implications were the focus of this project, but they also provided and generous history of how Facebook came into creation. The project also offers multiple videos and surveys to support their research.

Writing and editing. That is all I have been doing the past few hours, not to mention the past few days! I have found some really great articles on our topic, as well as an awesome video on College Recruiter.

This video I think will really add a lot to our project, because it talks specifically about our topic and offers a lot of information in great detail.

Last week I went to U of O and decided to do my own survey. I interviewed 100 students and asked them questions about their Facebook use. Here are the results I got:

• 96 students had Facebook accounts
• 89 checked their Facebook once a day
• 65  would be embarrassed if a potential employer saw content on their page
• 61 said they plan to use Facebook just as much after college

These results I think should make a good addition to my other research for this project.

So, after I gathered all my information, I met with my group to discuss the next step. We all are doing a great job of getting some really good resources but now comes the time when we have to put it all together. I started writing up my piece today, and it is taking me a little bit longer than I anticipated. I’m struggling with finding a good order for my information and how to make it the most effective. Hopefully through trial and error I will find a way to make it the best it can be!

OK, so I’ve been doing more research about Facebook than I’d like to admit lately! Trying to immerse myself in information that I can find about anything that relates to our topic. I never thought I’d be looking more into “who is checking out Facebook” than actually being on it! It’s been pretty interesting I will admit, however I feel like I am finally making some progress!

Ok, so for the final project in this class, myself, Adam and Josh decided to get together and focus on technology; mainly Facebook. The impact of Facebook on college students is so huge, and there is much to be talked about. We’re just getting started on our research, but it should be really interesting. Stay tuned for more!

After having Theresa Hogue in our class last week, it kind of sparked my interest to see what other local newspapers have multimedia additions to their web pages, if they even had one. I thought that it was so cool that the Gazette Times had podcasting on theirs, and so I wanted to take a look and see if how far along everyone else had come too.

The first site I visited was for the Register Guard. I was pretty much expecting them to have all the bells and whistles, but wasn’t sure. After searching their website for a little bit, I found the following multimedia additions: videos, podcasts, AP podcasts and blogs. So I guess they have come as far as the Gazette Times.

Next I looked at the Oregonian. They had a huge amount of blogs listed on their site! Basically one for everything under the sun! THey also had video and podcasts, which were listed under a multimedia section. As far as the Portland Tribune goes, I was really surprised. Their website was cluttered and really hard to focus on. It took me forever just to look through it. As far as I could tell from searching through their site, they didn’t have sort of section for videos, let alone podcasting or blogs.

The Democrat Herald in Albany had a nice website which included a good selection of blogs, photo galleries and videos. One thing I really noticed with their site (probably since I had just looked at the Portland Tribune site and was really unimpressed) was how neat and easy to read the layout was. I would think that if a newspaper wanted to get more people to go online, that they would pay more attention to the layout like some of these have. For the most part, it seems that the majority of Oregon’s major papers have started to include these new forms of journalism, which is really cool because I had no clue that was even happening in the first place!

Sites I visited:

www.registerguard.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
www.democratherald.com
www.portlandtribune.com