I hope that legislation catches up to social media, but since they are still having issues with catching up to the internet in general, i fear it will be a long time coming. Sadly, most legislation in the US isn’t “made” until someone sues, appeals, and goes through another lengthy couple years in the appellate system before there is a case on point to clarify an existing statute.

And there will always be companies or people who abuse social media. I worked for an employer who maintained a monster account not to solely seek new candidates for work, but to spy on existing employees who might be looking to leave. And they make your life an absolute misery once they determine you might be looking to get out. And this is no small company – it’s a well-known worldwide company. Linked In can be a risk too if you note “looking for job opportunities” on your profile.

I know what you are saying about looking like a pill. There’s an awkward line at company functions where alcohol is involved and it all depends on the company. In one position I worked primarily with men and it wasn’t until I could manage to keep up with their all night drinking at business conferences that I was accepted. They quickly respected me when I was the only one who managed to get up after an hour of sleep and still attend the morning conference itself.

I had NO idea and had NOT considered these sort of impacts. Wow. Am floored.

I guess if I could summarise my feelings now, I think this is going to get uglier before it gets better. How’s that for positive thinking?

My guess, then, is the law will change to reflect social media in some way or another. That, and people in general will have seen so many drunken photos, that a series of them won’t make a difference to a potential employer.

That, and I would venture to say the job market is changing because of social media. I can’t imagine a travel blogger not hiring someone based on a few drunk photos. Particularly if said potential employee has a website, FB page, Twitter page and a mountain of other social media information to confirm that they not only have an online presence but one that works for the potential employer.

That, and I’ve had my share of jobs where getting drunk at an office party and doing something stupid actually helped you in the workplace. Standing back and being professional, unfortunately or not, made you look more of a pill.

And as much as we all like to think that you can avoid working for companies who would care, your online presence can be a factor AFTER employment for things like promotions and employers who are trying to get a better feel for how you might handle more responsibility. Having a bunch of pictures of yourself trashed online? Off putting for many.

And… dating. Single? Control that profile. Doing otherwise is like showing up to the first date in your most comfortable sweatpants. Yeah, it’s “the real you”, but it’s just one part of the real you and it’s way too much too fast. That fun “cat christmas” album you posted for your aunt and niece may play as weird without appropriate background. Those sad status updates the month after your last breakup may be lurking around making you look… well, sort of unstable.

But, on the flipside, a carefully cultivated online profile can be a great calling card. Showcase your great taste in music, a few shots from far flung locales, or some political/charitable affiliations you really care about. Treat it as an open introduction, not a personal diary.

I try to keep the mindset that if I wouldn’t want my parents to see it, I don’t post it. I like FB from the aspect that you can set individual privacy settings for photos – I have special groups set up for family and professional colleagues so they cannot see photos I am tagged in or certain albums of my travels.

A number of years ago I found myself a victim of a stalker who found my address through the county we lived in (they post all property ownership records publicly), so I can attest to the importance of maintaining privacy settings (at least for info you can control). He located my address and then followed my post back and forth with a friend on Myspace about being out of town for work training – he showed up at my apt the day I flew back into town. He threatened my life and I filed a restraining order -needless to say my Myspace page went private immediately.

Candice brings up an interesting point if you are a writer or blogger and have an established online presence. Anyone can pretty much search about you without the need for FB or Twitter. Even comments like this end up in Google searches too. Like her, I would not want to work for someone who would judge me based on an event in my personal life like she described. This is where I think the abuse of online information comes in…no one should be denied employment for a post/comment like that.

On the other hand, I don’t know if I’d want to work for people like that. I’m not ashamed of anything I do. I recently blogged about my Amsterdam mistake of eating a space cake, but it was exactly that…a mistake. My personal life is no reflection on how I behave in the professional world.

But there’s never such a clear distinction like that.

my question is, what if you are a freelance writer/have another job that quite literally depends on social media or will at least have your name come up on search engines, and if you have a stalker, etc, what do you do about it?

I’ve had a couple of annoying situations, one of them recent and a bit disturbing.