Your postings can come back to haunt you

Here's an interesting fact:

35% of executive recruiters, who use the Internet to check out prospects, say they have eliminated candidates based on what they have found online (up from 26% in 2005). Although 82% of job candidates expect recruiters to look them up online, 33% of job candidates have never conducted a Web search on themselves.
Sources: BusinessWeek, June 26, 2006 and March 27, 2006, U.S. News & World Report, December 25, 2006

This is not only for job seekers. It applies to anyone who owns and operates a business. You never know what clients may find that could turn a deal sour.

Before posting information in various social network environments, on blogs or on your website, think about the long-term. Who might see your information?

Think things through before you leap into action with your postings. You will be glad you did.

Kathleen Gage

I always think it through! This is a great piece of info, Kathleen. Thanks!

Since I'm so old and won't be applying for a job, I think I'm safe!

Good advice Kathleen!

Hi Dianne,

It's not just for people applying for jobs. There are all sorts of things that can come back to "haunt" someone. I posted this on another forum and it was amazing some of the things people had exposed about them.

Kathleen

Writers have to be careful what we put out on the world wide web. We never know when something we write might turn a prospective customer or editor sour. Here is an article I received in an email from Writer's Digest.

BLOGGED AND BURNED
In the February issue of Writer's Digest, writer Sarah Weinman says that sometimes the Internet can be a writer's worst enemy and that you should be careful before "opening up" on your blog.

"Sandra Scoppettone was an award-winning crime and young-adult fiction writer with more than 15 novels to her name. Her blog, sandrascoppettone.blogspot.com, detailed the specifics of her writing life (debates on cover art, anxieties about current projects) with a healthy dose of self-deprecation. It was a diary of her thoughts and opinions for friends and family to enjoy. But not everyone enjoyed it.

"Two Novembers ago, she blogged about her editor's departure from publishing and laid bare her anxieties about her future as a published writer. By day's end, Scoppettone had been pilloried in the comments section of her site—as well as on others' sites—for her `ageist' attitude and for complaining about the lack of follow-through on promised marketing plans. What she believed was an honest, thoughtful post brought her nothing but scorn.

"Did Scoppettone's public comments result in lost sales or, as one commenter put it, `making [herself] look like what editors call a nightmare author'? It's hard to tell, but in an age where bloggers can be fired for blogging on the job, and where a stray comment can be all the incentive necessary to provoke nasty, long-running arguments, writers must pay special attention to what they post."

To read the full article and learn how to work the system, visit:
http://www.writersdigest.com/articles/weinman_
blogged_and_burned.asp

Laurel

Really? I have a blog for my parrot. She might get upset with me!

I'll read the article. I do know that I once googled my name and some of the things I had posted here, showed up! Scary.

Laurel, when I tried the article, it said page not found.

I tried it just last week and it worked. I guess they purge their files after a while.

Here's another example of blogging gone wrong.

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/windows/2007/01/10/burned-by-blogging/

I just tried this one so it should work.

I have a blog and I try really hard not to offend anyone but in this day and age it's almost impossible to please everyone.

Laurel

I have a blog for friends and my kids to keep up with me on my new life here. I recently posted some seriously ugly pictures of myself after a laser facial peel. If nothing else, it got them to call me! "Mom, that isn't really you, is it?"

I think this is a very important topic. We're all building our platforms and looking for ways to connect with our readers and the people that we want to help...but it can be a case of when too much is too much...and once something is out there is cyberspace...it's hard to retract it!...I try to be mindful of what I put out there for that very reason

So use common sense when posting. We use to have a couple areas on this site where only mambers with secret passwords could post and/or read posts BUT thats not availale anymore and those threads are pretty much never used anymore. Too Bad Too!

This is especially important for our young children who are in college and job searching. I can't recall the percentage, but I read that a fairly large percentage of kids who graduated from college last year and applied for certain jobs did not get them due to information they had posted on the internet.

I think most of us use discretion and common sense when posting here.

Dotsie's right, our kids need to be aware of the repercussions that can arise from their posts on websites like My Space. Many employers and colleges have started reading the posts there for screening purposes.

I don't agree with the practice. Are they going to spy on the latest college student's hang outs to see how they act on off hours? A person's party behaviour shouldn't be a judge of their work performance.

It reminds me of Big Brother.

Laurel

I would think that's why it's a good idea to use a pseudonym. I'm sure "the powers that be" can track you down if they really want to, but at least the posts wouldn't come up if they did a search on Google. Is this true?

Laurel, that's a good point. Who amolng us would have wanted our employees to see what we were doing at parties when we were teens and young adults?

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments.
Tonight I shared these thoughts via email and had a discussion with our college age daughter, a writer, about the subject. I thought she might want to bring it up in her school newspaper either via interview or article. I'll let you know if the topic is addressed this semester.

That is one reason I do not post my picture also. I wouldn't think of using my real name.

A guy I was dating googled my name and he told me what he found. I gave a reference for a dude ranch and used my real name on a dog website where I only encouraged a couple who was having dog behavior problems. I'm normally a very private person.

i have just dun it for the first time fairly confident that my name would never be on the internet, gess what it was.......now how scarrie was that never in a million years did i think, i don't even have a blogg for crying out loud.......the university when i graduated for my masters published the grad lists,,,,WHAT

the other links werre my name and nuthing to do with me hand on hart, their more than me with my name....scarrie but think they get paid more by what i read...

if you never goggled yourself try, for a laugh or a shock lol

celtic_secrite_flame

There's a famous singer with my name and a nice website. She's much younger and prettier. I wouldn't mind if people thought it was me.

Laurel