Should Companies Hack Social Networking Sites?

For all of us who are highly active on social networking sites, we have probably gotten a concerned call from parents or loved ones saying "You know jobs can hack into facebook right?" or "You know jobs use facebook to weed out potential employees." Maybe you have even read an article about how companies are now using facebook and twitter as a tool to hire or fire people...but is that really fair?

Great involvement with techonology and social networking websites has made privacy harder and harder to maintain. Hence why the creators of facebook have created numerous privacy settings so you can actively use their website while maintaining a level of control of what and who can see things on your profile. Same with twitter...you can make your tweets private.

These are reasons we feel companies should NOT hack onto a persons facebook account, twitter account, or use either of the two against them when it comes to hiring or firing.

1. This is YOUR Life Outside of Work:

Unless you have a picture on facebook getting lit like a Christmas tree with anything including your company name or company logo who cares? Unless you tweet about how you are getting high on the clock, about employees, or all the company secrets, who cares what you do outside of work as long as it isn't effecting your work?

2. Some of Us Are Still Young:

Although some of us 20-somethings work in corporate America we are everything but corporate. Come on...we are in our glory days....which includes hitting up bars, parties, wild vacations, clubs, etc. We often take a lot of pictures, many of which we want to share with friends...hence why people have facebook albums and tag friends in photos. Did you honestly think all our pictures would be at a dinner party wearing a cardigen drinking cola? Or perhaps only pictures of us on the couch with our dog drinking a coffee? Get the f*ck out of here man.

3. Isn't That a Violation of Privacy?


I mean if you have privacy settings on your social networking accounts that means that it's private stuff and not broadcasted to everyone. It's private so that only your friends and family can see it. Do they check and see if people are on match.com and eharmony too? Ridiculous. We honestly feel that it should be illegal. Since social networking is a form of communication hacking into it should be illegal just as it would be illegal for someone to wire tap your phone records, open your mail, as we think about it...thats probably next!


4. More Important Things to Check:


Honestly there are more important sites and things these companies should look at if they are trying to determine someone's character. Maybe check craigslist personals or adultfriendfinder to make sure someone is not trying to solicit underage boys for some butt sex. Maybe figure out if someone is registered felon or sex offender....these things are a bit more serious than what someone puts on their facebook or twitter. Maybe companies should spend money beefing up monitoring their accounting departments and making sure the people working in accounting are highly qualified, monitoring white collar crime and people using expense accounts to fund their mistresses lifestyle, etc. over spending money on a social network hacker...seems that would go to better use huh?

5. Social Networking is an Inaccurate Display of Character:


We would say about a good 10% of what someone sees on a persons twitter or facebook is showing their character or their real life. This is a horrible way to decipher the character of an employee or potential employee.


What do you think? Should companies hire and fire people based off their social networking habits? Should it be legal for companies to hack into people social networking accounts? Do you think companies even do that? Let us know!

Should Companies Be Able to Hack/Monitor Social Networking Sites?
	Hell no! That should be illegal
	Yes. It's the only real way to know someone's character
	Not sure
	Only for investigation purposes if they suspect someone of misconduct
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