Friday, April 11, 2008

Does not being on Facebook mean you're a social outcast?

"Jim" from my office and I have been reviewing resumes of soon-to-be college grads to join our team this summer. One of Jim's favorite techniques (being a few years younger than me and a Facebook expert) is checking out the candidates' profiles on Facebook. Naturally.

Anyway, thanks to people coming their senses and making their information private, there's not a lot to learn about these kids on Facebook (aside from if they're cute enough to meet Jim's standards). But, a few of the candidates actually weren't on Facebook at all. According to Jim, this made them suspect.

With the younger generation, it seems that an absence from online social networks sets off alarm bells. And I can kind of understand Jim's perspective; if everyone that age is Facebooking right and left, what kind of person doesn't participate? Sure, my friends aren't all on Facebook - but the site didn't even exist until I left college. We communicated via IM and, yes, landline phones when I was doing my undergrad. Facebook is such a given, on the other hand, with people several years my junior that it's hard to think of someone opting out.

Again, it comes back to the role Facebook, and social networking sites, play in our day-to-day lives. In this instance, choosing not to participate on some level is apparently a professional deal-breaker. At least, it is when someone like Jim is making the decisions...

1 comment:

Eddie Radshaw said...

I'm very intrigued. I think it would make me suspect the person of being a subversive douchebag as well... so your coworker and I have that in common.