Last year I coined the phrase “Transparent Generation” to describe the first children of the hyperconnected information age — young men and women who were using the Internet before they could write cursive. I noted how the first of them were graduating college with the nagging realization that their online trail of screw-the-establishment web sites, embarrassing party photos, gushy poetry blogs and message board diatribes might be Googled by a potential boss.
Now their younger brothers and sisters are graduating high school. And colleges are researching social media to decide whether or not they want those kids as students.
Those are the findings of a new study from Dr. Nora Barnes at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. In a nationwide survey, Dr. Barnes found that college and university offices are far more familiar with social media than corporate employers, and that they are using all the tools of the information age to research student applications.
“No longer can applicants behave irresponsibly online without potential consequences to their futures,” Dr. Barnes said in a note announcing the research findings. “And their parents’ sanity.”
Is it legal? Is it fair? As I said last year, it is at least inevitable. A Harris Interactive Poll found last year that one out of four business people automatically search the web for the name for an associate or colleague before meeting them. It’s a trend that will continue as employers, colleges, non-profits and organizations institutionalize the use of technology that makes it increasingly easier to dig up information from personal home pages, blogs and social networking sites.
Certainly, there’s a growing market for companies that promise to remove potentially embarrassing or offensive Internet material about a person. Whether or not those actually work is still a question.
For now, you are still what you post. And who finds it.
Download the entire study, titled The Game Has Changed: College Admissions Outpace Corporations in Embracing Social Media.
Those are the findings of a new study from Dr. Nora Barnes at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. In a nationwide survey, Dr. Barnes found that college and university offices are far more familiar with social media than corporate employers, and that they are using all the tools of the information age to research student applications.
“No longer can applicants behave irresponsibly online without potential consequences to their futures,” Dr. Barnes said in a note announcing the research findings. “And their parents’ sanity.”
Is it legal? Is it fair? As I said last year, it is at least inevitable. A Harris Interactive Poll found last year that one out of four business people automatically search the web for the name for an associate or colleague before meeting them. It’s a trend that will continue as employers, colleges, non-profits and organizations institutionalize the use of technology that makes it increasingly easier to dig up information from personal home pages, blogs and social networking sites.
Certainly, there’s a growing market for companies that promise to remove potentially embarrassing or offensive Internet material about a person. Whether or not those actually work is still a question.
For now, you are still what you post. And who finds it.
Download the entire study, titled The Game Has Changed: College Admissions Outpace Corporations in Embracing Social Media.
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Previously in Scatterbox
Previously in Scatterbox
- Transparent Generation realizes downside to growing up online.
- Smart employers neither exploit nor ignore information transparency.
