430 Friends and Counting:

If you’re currently reading my blog entries I’ll assume you have access to the internet. It’s also a safe bet to say if you have internet access you are a member of The Facebook. If you’re like me you probably have at least a few people that are listed as “friends” you have either never met or haven’t spoken to in several years. Personally I rarely search someone out to add as a friend. Typically if I am introduced to someone I don’t even think about adding them on to my friends list but eventually I receive an invite or suggestion to be friends with this person and gladly accept. When Facebook was first launched publicly you had to be a college student to use it and provide your college e-mail. It has since expanded and even fictional characters have their own profiles. I am friends with God and Professor Xavier of the X-Men. I have always found the Facebook to be something to entertain myself with, either funny wall post between friends, an irrational “status” message, or putting photos of crazy evenings up. Things have sadly changed.

Granted Facebook pretty much lets you post whatever you are thinking and as long as it is not pornography almost any picture you can imagine, trust me, I have several that I would not want scrapbooked. With this knowledge employers started looking at potential hires and current employees personal pages; after all, it is a public forum. This allows the employer to see their staff without the confines of a suit and in an office atmosphere. Once most companies started feverishly monitoring Facebook and MySpace web sites members needed to drastically alter there web pages. The profile picture of one doing a three story beer bong was replaced with special moment with their significant other and their new puppy. “Hungover from a fourteen hour drinking binge” status updates were switched to “enjoying coffee with friends”. I have several friends who once upon time held legendary Facebook profile pages who have began careers now and have had to fine tune it into a secondary resume.

I guess I just think it is a disappointment that something that was once very personal and an extension of ones personality has needed to become another disguise to convince ones superiors that they are just as professional in their personal life as in the workplace. Recently I have deleted several pictures that I was “tagged” in by friends. Granted these pictures were morally objected but I view my Facebook page as a time capsule for the life I have been living. It is a timeline of good times I have had with my friends and the relationships I have partaken in. Now even when I post a quick update for my thoughts it is something that can be scrutinized by hundreds of potential employers. It is discerning that we are given freedom of speech but in the end if someone doesn’t like what you said it is going to cost you. I am hoping in time there will be something that can take the place of Facebook allowing you to share your actual thoughts and ideas without endangering your career. As for me I am going to delete some more photos and add some quotes from movies that are supposed classics, and then put all of the photos of that Tijuana donkey show in a shoebox where they supposedly belong.