Angela Connor wrote a very thought provoking article about how Teens expect access to social networks at work. A section of it talks about how teens don’t consider how future college admissions officers, potential employers, etc will feel about what they post:
Most of the teens surveyed feel prepared to make ethical decisions at work (82 percent) and a significant majority of teens say they do not behave unethically while using social networks (83 percent). Yet, despite this confidence in the integrity of their online behavior, significant numbers of teens do not consider the reactions of specific groups of influencers in their lives when posting content on social networks. Specifically, 40 percent do not consider the potential reactions of college admissions officers, 38 percent do not consider the reactions of present or future employers, and 30 percent do not consider their parents’ reactions. Moreover, 16 percent readily admitted to behavior that included posting content embarrassing to others, spreading rumors and pretending to be someone other than themselves. Ultimately, more than half of those who did admit to posting this type of content about others (54 percent) said they later regretted doing so.
My take on the whole deal of being honest and true to who you are online being frowned on is a little different than the line that most business people will truck out.
Once the business world learns to understand that people are going to have very public identities they’ll be less concerned about those “drunk photos of you on facebook” when deciding who to hire. It’s all very reminiscent of people having a big to do about all the piercings and tattoos. They all thought that no one would hire people with lip rings. . . but now those people are everywhere, because that’s what there is to choose from. Companies will have to adjust to employees that are connected and talking just as they’ve adjusted to new fashion.
People are losing interest in hiding who they are from the world. It’s the age of everyone having a very public personal life and the world will have to adjust. The future is an open world, so loosen up.
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