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Caroline Royston
Facebook and Privacy Risks
In early 2007, a college intern for Anglo Irish Bank Corp. Ltd lied to his boss
about not being able to attend work because of a family issue. In reality the intern did not
attend work because he planned to attend a Halloween costume party. When the interns
boss saw multiple pictures of the intern dressed as a fairy at the Halloween party on his
Facebook profile, the boss sent the intern an email sarcastically confronting him about his
cute fairy costume. Quickly, the bosss email traveled around the Internet and was one of
the first examples of how Facebook can impact the way universities and businesses are
using social media sites in order to make professional decisions (Greenwood).
Since Mark Zuckerburg, a Harvard student, and his four other roommates created
TheFacebook on February 4th, 2004 it instantly made online communication with
others easy and efficient. With a click of a button one can see into the virtual world of a
friend or family member.
When Zuckerburg first created TheFacebook, he restricted the website to only
allowing users to join if they were attending college with a university email address, but
after the website changed its name to only Facebook in 2005, it gained a large
popularity among the teenage demographic. In 2006 it opened its doors to anyone over
the age of thirteen with a valid email address (Brian).
Facebook is unique compared to any other social media site because it allows
people to friend and unfriend other individuals that also use the website. Friending
someone means to add that person to ones friend list or to give permission for the other
user to receive posts, and updates on ones life. It also permits the other user to write

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comments on photos and each others walls, which is a users profile page. To
unfriend another person on Facebook means to remove one from a friend list and
restrict any updates that would be normally placed on the friends news feed. The
news feed, which was added to the site in 2006, is where Facebook places
chronological events and updates among friends; it is basically a timeline of information
that friends share with each other.
The newsfeed was the first update that Facebook added that sparked the issue of
privacy with its users. For the first, time instead of logging on and seeing only the users
profile, users were being constantly updated about their friends new relationship status,
employment history, and contact information that was being changed as peoples lives
changed (Brian).
From the very beginning of Facebook in 2004 to the current day, creators have
constantly updated and added new features to improve the way users could communicate
with each other. Facebook has been the leader in utilizing technology to continuously
improve and streamline social media communication. As Facebook has evolved into a
personal, professional, and public network, its profile privacy has become a major issue.
Due to the constant real time activity of Facebook, users tend to make their personal
profile an accurate portrayal of their life. The effects of not protecting their profile and
making sure only appropriate information is posted can be devastating to ones education
and career.
Social media has taken over the Internet and has become one of it fastest growing
uses. Many students and people applying for jobs suppose that because of their First
Amendment right to free speech, they are protected from negative repercussions from

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anything they post on social media. Unfortunately, this is highly untrue. Many college
admissions offices and companies looking to hire employees search the Internet and
social media sites, like Facebook, for information on their applicants. Many students are
not getting accepted to colleges they wish to attend and some college graduates applying
for jobs do not get hired because they post inappropriate things on their social media
sites.
In a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep, an organization that helps prepares
students for college, found that out of 500 renown colleges 24% view Facebook profiles
as a part of their admission process (Admissions Staffs Facebook Applicants). Nora G.
Barnes, the chancellor professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth, describes a college as a brand and the students that apply and that are
admitted reflect that brand. The admissions office of the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth preview applicants profiles because they feel they need to protect their
brand from applicants that might not be a good and who may paint their school in a bad
light (Greenwood).
Even though many colleges do think observing applicants Facebook profiles is a
standard for admissions, prestigious colleges like Princeton University, University of
Virginia and Ohio State University do not see this as beneficial. University of Virginias
Dean of Admissions, Greg Roberts says they simply do not have time to evaluate every
applicants Facebook profile. Roberts also doubts that everything posted is true to the
applicants personal character. He fears that some things could be a result of the user
being hacked by others to be seen by admissions offices as a bad fit for their school
(Greenwood).

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Facebook is a unique tool that was initially created for college students to

communicate easily with each other. A major use of Facebook is to document daily life
events. A collegiate Facebook user notes, I cant go to a sorority formal or a football
game without photos from the event winding up on Facebook, uploaded by me or a
friend (Boyd). Facebook is so popular that even if a person does not want to be
documented a certain occasion, it is still possible for a picture of that person to be
uploaded to Facebook without their knowledge.
Like college admissions, business professionals who are looking to hire new
employees have also been found to preview applicants profiles. Facebook can give
employers a ton of different information like age, religion, and sexuality that can cause
employers who review profiles to discriminate against possible future employees. This is
called pre-employment vetting (Greenwood). Its a way for companies to give a
background check of peoples lives before they actually receive and interview or are
given a fair chance for the job. A question that can arise from businesses that look at
Facebook profiles before hiring applicants is how much truth is behind ones profile?
According to the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, employers should, not
place reliance on information collected from possibly unreliable sources (Prasad).
A study orchestrated by CareerBuilder in 2009 found that 45% of employers used
social networking systems to review potential hires, and 29% specifically searched
Facebook (Rozenblum 7). A main reason many employers review perspective
employees profile is because it shows their real character and provides information that
might not have been showed during a typical interview process. When an applicant
submits a resume or has an interview, they tend to put their best foot forward and change

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their behavior to be professional. To businesses, a Facebook profile is an accurate

depiction of the applicants true personality.
Not only are employers searching possible employees profiles, but they are also
reviewing current employees Facebook profiles. An employee represents their company
and business professionals have to monitor their profiles to make sure anything they post
is not a poor reflection on their company. It is easy for employees to post negative things
about other co-workers, customers, and about private business affairs. In order for the
business to have loyal employees, some businesses find is necessary to look over their
employees profiles (Rozenblum 5). Some employees have been reportedly fired over
posting inappropriate things on their Facebook profile. Between June of 2009 and April
of 2011, the National Labor Relations Board received over one hundred complaints of
employees being reprimanded or fired for posting something on Facebook (Sprague 958).
Johnny Cook, a bus driver from Haralson County, Georgia, was fired for posting
an aggravated status. Cooks status described of a child on his route complaining that he
was hungry and had not eaten because he did not have forty cents on his account to pay
for his meal. His status rant included his phone number, saying call [Johnny] next time,
hed pay the fee for any hungry child. When the schools assistant threatened that if
Cook did not delete his post that he would risk suspension or he would be fired, Cook
refused to take down his Facebook status. According to the schools superintendent, Brett
Stedman, the school district has a social media policy that forbids any post that could
disrupt the system. Stedman also argued that the lunch incident did not happen,
because on multiple occasions the lunch staff has used their own money for kids to eat

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lunch when they do not have the money. The school also has policies that prevent
children from going throughout the day without lunch (Bus).
With so many privacy risks that Facebook users can be prone too, the best way to
protect ones profile is to use Facebooks privacy settings. Facebooks privacy settings
can allow one to change who can see their posts, who can contact them, and who can
look them up on the Facebook search. The safest way to prevent anything from becoming
too public, is by setting ones profile should be strictly visible to friends only. This
means only people that a user is friends with can view anything that is posted on their
profile. If a profile is set to public anyone who searches their name can view anything
they post (Facebook, Privacy).
Another easy way to protect users on Facebook is by only adding people that they
users have met in real life. Adding people you do not know can cause serious privacy and
safety issues. Facebook profiles can have a ton of personal information, like email and
birth date, that people you do not know can see. Also, adding friends can be hazardous
because some Facebook accounts are spam. In September of 2012, Facebook had over a
billion users, and 9% of those active users were fake accounts (Facebook).
Facebook has vastly captured the attention of the world. With over 1.28 billion
users around the globe, Facebook has managed to create an easy way for friends to stay
in touch (Facebook). With its real time activity, a persons Facebook profile can be a
virtual diary of ones life. In 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg and his four roommates started
the website, he originally created it for strictly college students. Ironically today, many
college admissions view applicants Facebook profile before deciding whether a student
should be admitted. Business professionals also preview potential hires to see how they

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would represent their company. Not only are people who are applying for jobs being
watched on Facebook, but companies also observe their current employees. Some
employees have been fired for inappropriate postings on Facebook profiles.
The best way to prevent one from being viewed on Facebook is to protect ones
profile. Facebook offers a ton of profile privacy tools that a user can use to prevent posts
from being shown to the whole world. Without a protected profile, personal information
can been seen by the public or anyone who searches their name.
A Facebook user should be conscious of what he or she posts on their profiles.
Everything that is posted can be a reflection of that persons character. Users should take
extra percussions when posting on their profile and should think twice if something
posted can be deemed inappropriate before actually posting it for the entire Internet to
see.

The Virginia Tech Honor Pledge is as follows: "I have neither given nor received
unauthorized assistance on this assignment."

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Works Cited

"Admissions Staffs Facebook Applicants." Women in Higher Education 11 2011: 5-6.

ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2014 .
Boyd, Danah. "Facebook\'s Privacy Trainwreck." Convergence: The International
Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 14.1 (2008): 13-20.
Brian Jenkins. Keeping Up with Zuck: A Brief History of Facebook Features. 88 Vol.
Alexandria: Association for Career & Technical Education, 2013. Print.
Bus Driver Fired for Facebook Post About Hungry Kid. Google.com, n.d. Web. 2 May
2014.
"Facebook." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 03 May 2014.
"Facebook." Facebook Privacy and Setting Tool. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Greenwood, Bill. "Facebook: The Next Great Vetting Tool?" Information Today 26.8
(2009): 1,2,46. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Peterson, Eric. "Hiring And Firing In The Facebook Age." Coloradobiz 38.8 (2011): 50.
Regional Business News. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Prasad, Gagandeep. "Checking Applicants On Facebook." Caterer & Hotelkeeper
199.4596 (2009): 38. Associates Programs Source. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Rozenblum, Tatyana. "Making Hiring Decisions using Facebook: How Job Applicants
are Evaluated." Order No. 1533041 San Jose State University, 2012. Ann Arbor:
ProQuest. Web. 1 May 2014.
Sprague, Robert. "Facebook Meets the NLRB: Employee Online Communications and
Unfair Labor Practices." University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law
14.4 (2012): 957-1011.