Spring Break
E-content jeopardizes job hunt
ALEX REBITCH The Red & Black
Issue date: 6/26/08 Section: News
The weekend rolls around, and it's time for fun. Then comes Monday and the weekend's activities end up on Facebook. No harm, right?
Wrong, said several professors at a discussion sponsored by the University Child and Family Policy Initiative.
"You put something up on the Internet and it really doesn't go away," said Alison Alexander, senior associate dean for academic affairs in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. "The benefits of social networking - discovering, connecting and creating - should be balanced with the concerns of content, contact and commerce."
Content on social networking Web sites, such as Myspace and Facebook, are often posted without regard for future consequences, said Alexander; Karen Russell, associate professor in Grady College; and Jolie Daigle, assistant professor in the College of Education.
Photographs, comments and other information posted can all come back to haunt students in the future, they said.
The group sponsored a discussion called "The Use of Social Networking Tools/The Media and Adolescents" in the Student Learning Center Tuesday.
The largest threat to college students is the damage online content can pose to their job search.
As social networking sites increase in popularity, they draw more attention from employers who can easily find potential job candidates online. Questionable content can make even the most promising applicant seem less than ideal, they said.
"There is so much that's positive going on with kids being able to stay in touch with kids and the creativity they express with photos, video and blogs," Alexander said. "But stranger danger is very real and pornography is easy to get access to," she said. "Also, once you create content it has both legal concerns with defamation and copyright infringement and social concerns while job hunting."
Wrong, said several professors at a discussion sponsored by the University Child and Family Policy Initiative.
"You put something up on the Internet and it really doesn't go away," said Alison Alexander, senior associate dean for academic affairs in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. "The benefits of social networking - discovering, connecting and creating - should be balanced with the concerns of content, contact and commerce."
Content on social networking Web sites, such as Myspace and Facebook, are often posted without regard for future consequences, said Alexander; Karen Russell, associate professor in Grady College; and Jolie Daigle, assistant professor in the College of Education.
Photographs, comments and other information posted can all come back to haunt students in the future, they said.
The group sponsored a discussion called "The Use of Social Networking Tools/The Media and Adolescents" in the Student Learning Center Tuesday.
The largest threat to college students is the damage online content can pose to their job search.
As social networking sites increase in popularity, they draw more attention from employers who can easily find potential job candidates online. Questionable content can make even the most promising applicant seem less than ideal, they said.
"There is so much that's positive going on with kids being able to stay in touch with kids and the creativity they express with photos, video and blogs," Alexander said. "But stranger danger is very real and pornography is easy to get access to," she said. "Also, once you create content it has both legal concerns with defamation and copyright infringement and social concerns while job hunting."
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Anon
posted 6/26/08 @ 11:13 AM EST
How many articles are you guys gonna publish about the danger of posting something on facebook that a potential employer sees? There must have been 10 of these exact same articles published over the past year. (Continued…)
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