It’s all fun and games until someone loses their job…

Social media has taken over the globe and it's getting much easier to find someone on the internet and easily assess their character by means of pictures, comments or conversations they've had with their friends.  Companies are actually using Facebook and MySpace as part of their background screens.  Social networking sites are great tools to connect with your friends and they have been updates so that you can follow your friends every minute of the day.  Between Facebook status updates and Twitter, you sometimes know more than you'd like about what people are thinking or doing.  You may make off-color comments to your friends or talk about your wild weekends by means of social media sites because it's funny and they understand your personality and love you just the same.  But what if someone reading your profile doesn't know you well?  What if that person is the CEO of the company that you just did a final interview with?  What if that person you're your boss and your friends just wished you luck on that interview?  Because this information can be found so readily on the internet, it is important to filter what you really want people to know about you.  Many employers are using these sites to get a glimpse of who you really are when the interview mask comes off.  Depending upon the person and organization, you could loose points as a viable candidate based on what they see.  You could also lose your current job by broadcasting your current interview status or even your opinion of your current company.  I've seen it happen.  Your profile could tip the scale towards one direction or another and most of the time you won't even know that your Facebook page is a factor.  So before you update your status or accept that friend request from someone you don't know, be conscious about what you want other people to know about you.