[Student Reporters] Facebooks Beware

Jonathan Shin / <11th, Flintridge HS>

Facebook is a social networking site that allows people to connect with childhood friends and keep up with new ones. Created by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg Facebook was originally only open to the Harvard student body. Eventually by word of mouth popular demand required Zuckerberg to include all colleges in Canada and the United States.

"Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected" as stated on their website. "Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends upload an unlimited number of photos share links and videos and learn more about the people they meet." With its easy-to-use interface Facebook has made it easier to upload a picture or video for someone to regret.

Last year in Providence Rhode Island Joshua Lipton was charged for drunk driving and the hospitalization of an innocent bystander. The prosecutor came across an incriminating picture on Facebook of Lipton unremorsefully partying two weeks after the incident. The prosecutor was able to negatively portray him in court and Lipton was sentenced to two years in prison.

The internet does not revolve around one person. It is used by all kinds of people yet people forget this crucial detail. Several other prosecutors have used incriminating pictures from social networking sites in other DUI cases. Even detectives have solved crimes with the help of Facebook and similar websites.

In 2008 a survey on CareerBuilder.com showed that about 660 of 3000 hiring managers twice the percent two years before use social networking websites to screen applicants. Of the managers that take advantage of these websites about 224 found material that crossed applicants off the list. Despite certain privacy settings on Facebook accounts can never be completely deleted from the website unless a member calls the office where Facebook is regulated.

There have been similar instances where even college admission officers have used Facebook to check applicants as well. In a study last year by Kaplan an education provider 50 top colleges were said to have used this method. 38 percent of the officers found disapproving results while 25 percent gained positive views of applicants.