There’s been a lot of talk in my circle (see end of article for links) about the importance of owning your name in Google. Right now, the top hit in a search for “Brian James Kirk” is my MySpace page. Just looking at that page above my professional web page causes brain hemorrhaging. No, that pulsing against my skull isn’t because this site hasn’t really taken off, yet. What really makes my brain want to explode is the anxiety created by the competition between public image and professional career as a result of online social networks.
Every article that you’ll read about this phenomenon says the same thing: Be very, very afraid, green foot. Maybe it’s a guilty conscience that makes me want to re-write the rulebook on hiring. I think employers are smart for searching out their employees to recognize whether or not their lifestyle will fit in at the office. But, I think that this social-network fear-mongering stifles creativity. Especially considering the field that we’re in; Do hiring journalists really care about seeing that someone has personality outside the office?
After the jump, let’s get inebriated.
We all hear the social network horror stories: candidates being turned down for jobs because of party pictures; or someone forced to quit a local political campaign because of a mock-photo that was just too controversial. But, is anyone keeping the same close tabs on the journalism industry? Have journalists ever stood as being the pinnacle of morality? Have we really moved that far from the romantic images of Hemingway sipping cocktails between deadlines or Thompson dropping acid just to report?
Are we considering that the applicants are more than resumes and clips? Are we considering that real people, who strive to have healthy, vibrant social lives, are behind those sheets of paper? While I understand the importance of creating professional, responsible images in our careers, I think to ignore that our social lives are just as omnipresent and public on the Internet will turn us into drones.
I debated adding a feature to this site called Lifestream. As you’ll see by looking at my sidebar, I decided for it. The feature is a popular Wordpress plug-in that reads RSS feeds from your social networking and utility sites and publishes them on one page. My current Lifestream tracks my Twitter, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Google Reader, Last.FM, and Digg accounts. The debate was simple: while I wanted this site to be professional, I also wanted it to be a place for my family and friends to see what I’m up to in a casual space. Not to mention that the activities I maintain on my social networks often add to the conversations I’m having in my professional life.
The after-effects of adding it to my professional website is simple: I’m experiencing a certain level of anxiety about all of the things that come through the feed. While I’m confident that my lifestyle is hardly any more controversial than anyone else, I feel confined that if I even mention that I’m drinking a beer at a restaurant, it might effect my chances of getting that next gig. But why should it?
ChrisWink: Christopher Wink Joined Facebook
HowardOwens: Owning Your Name In Search
SeanBlanda: How To Overcome Your George Blanda
Comments 5
I hear you buddy. Here I am, a throwback newspaperman, but I have to hide from my employers the flask I keep in my desk. …Oh…
Posted 04 Jul 2008 at 3:53 pm ¶I agree! And even though journalism seems a lot more laid back to me with respect to all that, I still worry sometimes too.
Good points, BJK.
Posted 05 Jul 2008 at 12:57 pm ¶It’s not your incipient alcoholism that bothers potential employers — it’s the capacity for indiscretion you’re potentially demonstrating (where “you” = “any young journalist, possibly but not necessarily including Brian James Kirk”).
You can interpret this three ways:
The Fourth Estate way — How can a source entrust his secrets to you if you can’t keep your own?
The cynical way — How can your employer entrust his secrets to you if you can’t keep your own?
The pragmatic way — How many ways will defense counsel shred this guy under cross-examination?
Posted 07 Jul 2008 at 9:26 pm ¶Sweet Image sir.
Posted 12 Jul 2008 at 8:39 pm ¶A couple things. First, any employer whose hiring is influenced by social network site tracking has got to understand that this thing is completely generational. That is to say, if the prospective employee is 18-25, the question isn’t “will they or won’t they belong to a social networking site?” but rather “how many will they belong to?” Unless someone is prepared to unmake the internet, it’s a part of generational life that is here to stay, and I think employers basing decisions on MySpace pics would find themselves in murky legal waters if their rejections were challenged. But most people our age let these rejections stand because…well, why the hell do they let them stand??
Second, I think eventually your wordpress site will shoot to the top of the search results, given your name in the URL. But if it doesn’t, it’s your cross to bear for being like one of the first FIVE people in the world to sign up for MySpace. Seriously, it was like Dane Cook..then Todd..then you.
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 7:05 am ¶Post a Comment