HR and Social Networking: Sounds like a personal problem…

A recent ERE article – Pandora’s Box: Appreciating the Challenges of Social Networking - is interesting to me. Here’s a little excerpt:

“For example, an employer may view more negatively photos of an African American male, beer in hand, hanging out at a bar than photos of a Caucasian male, also with beer in hand, hanging out at a rock ‘n roll bar. In such a situation, was it really the public evidence of drinking or intoxication that disqualified the individual? How many current employees would be disqualified from employment if never getting publicly intoxicated — or even drinking in public — was a job requirement?”

Obviously, this seems to be implying a recruiter’s potential unlawful discrimation. Obviously there would be no way to track back unless you can read the recruiter’s mind, which is where the issue comes into play.

Social networking sites have caused huge legal issues in HR – it seems like any recruiter who might reject a candidate for  “being too Christian” or having too many activities listed on their Facebook page is not the kind of recruiter you want working for you. So what is causing the problem? Is it really the social networks that are causing this, or is it the people behind it?

Facebook: the new MySpace?

Last night I went to a PRSA Mixer in downtown Portland – I’d never been to one (and I’m not even a member of PRSA yet) so I thought I’d see what it was all about. To no surprise, social media was a prevalent topic of conversation throughout the night. The one thing that struck me most from my fellow young PRos was their stance on Facebook in the social media sphere.

Based on the general feedback, here’s the scale of where you should boast professionalism on social networks.

1. LinkedIn (100% Professional)

2. Twitter (Mix of Professional and Personal)

3. Facebook (Mostly Personal)

4. MySpace (Gross. Just delete it.)

I have no problem following friends, coworkers, and people in my industry on Twitter – I think it’s great to share ideas, network, as well as give an insight to your personality – but most of the feedback I got last night was that Facebook is just more personal – in general, 20-somethings don’t want their boss or their grandmother to friend them on Facebook – yes, you can alter your privacy settings, but seriously, it’s SO obvious when you block your photos or information, which only leaves us to wonder – what are you trying to hide? (Even if you’re not hiding anything).

So here’s what I think happened: Facebook was really the first social network that every college student went on. Nobody thought it would get this popular or really thought about what they were doing (it was only open to college students at first anyway) and the last thing an 18-year old freshman is thinking about is how to portray a professional image on a new network that people are basically using to post drunk pictures of each other. Twitter, on the other hand, came around later when people had more of an idea of what to expect and how to use social media to advance their professional careers. We 20-somethings are used to using Facebook in a personal (and often times) unprofessional way. I personally think opening it up to everyone was a mistake on Facebook – they are exploding and frankly, I don’t think college students (the people who started Facebook!) would stay if everyone found another site that was more exclusive.

So what do we do? Do we continue to block our pages? Do we delete and start from scratch, removing all trails of blasphemy? Do we create two profiles, one for professional use, and one for personal? Will Facebook survive, or is Facebook the new MySpace?

Professional vs Personable

In all of the actions we take in life, we’re representing who we are – from a status update on Twitter to the way you dress and speak, we’re constantly being judged. I was recently networking with some PR PRos over drinks where the question came up: “Who do you think is the most different outside of work?”

It should be pretty easy to keep a professional demeanor up during the workday, but these days social media and the friend/co-worker overlap is making it a little harder to distinguish the two. I know some people who have even gone so far as to create two online identities: one for work and one for friends. Others are more transparent, keeping it clear that their online identity has both personal and professional content.

It’s an ongoing ethical HR nightmare: should recruiters look at your Facebook, MySpace, etc. to make pre-hire judgments/ use as a background check?

In my experience, I felt like my blog was supposed to be more professional while I could just be myself on Facebook. Until I realized I don’t have dual personalities: I have one. Am I going to create a professional alias for myself online so people can’t see the real me? Probably not. Am I going to blog about my personal relationships for the world to see? Probably not. Not to disregard anyone who does – there really is no right or wrong answer.

I guess to me it’s all about balance: don’t hide who you are from the world but don’t post embarrassing photos of yourself online either (I’ll be the first to admit I’m guilty of both). The same goes for at work: one of the first things my boss critiqued me on was maintaining a professional appearance in my email messages. I mean, it’s not like I was writing anything inappropriate, it’s just that my boss is from an older generation and is big on separating your work relationships from your personal ones. In my opinion, the world is changing and it’s OK to be personable with your clients – your emails don’t need to be written without personality (which is kind of how I feel like some of mine ended up when edited by the ‘professional’). Just don’t get too personal.