Revisiting Facebook

In 2006, students saw Facebook as their world. They didn't set security settings, some posts inappropriate, and there was a huge disconnect between employers and students regarding its use. So why revisit it? There have been huge changes. If users were a country, they would be the 5th most populous nation in the world.

Student use hasn't changed much . . .

• 94% of students use it
• 3/4ths of them visit it daily for more than an hour mostly to socialize
• 67% use it to keep up with events (CC emails bounce back)
• 1/3 join groups that don't represent them
• Half use profanity and 2/5ths post pictures of others without permission
• 1/3rd post pictures of self and others using alcohol
  

Students more realistic: 80% don't see employer use of Facebook unethical, half want employers to know that they shouldn't believe everything they see. 2:1 said employers shouldn't use it, but 1/4th weren't sure. At out session, most college folks said that employers should consider it, but more employers thought that they should not use Facebook. In 2006, 84% had not heard of Facebook, now 59% use it.

Dramatically increased employer involvement: fewer employers are using privacy settings than students! Only 6% think it's unethical to use Facebook and half take everything with a grain of salt. Half say that it's OK to use it. It was an even split as to employers were positively affected and negatively affected by a Facebook profile, about 20%.

Employer uses include hiring, recruiting, on-boarding, branding, intern/worker communication, networking, advertising, team building. 20% of the employers they surveyed had a Facebook page. In our session, 2/3rds had pages.

Few organizations have policies regarding Facebook, only 31%. There's a lot of internal strife regarding its use, and some concerns regarding legal ramifications. The biggest disconnect is whether or not profiles are the "real" student. 1/3 of employers think so, but 90% of the students says that it is. Maybe employers are giving a pass . . .

Increasing use of: 33% increasing Facebook, 42% increasing LinkedIn (13% students use it but 57% employers use it), 20% using Twitter, and half said none.


Lessons

• Employers are using Facebook in more and more ways. (Don't delete your account!)
• Employers plan to increase their use.
• Employers are more tech-savvy.
• Students need to be more knowledgeable about privacy settings, policies, etc. but the profile photo can still be seen.
• Can't generalize about employers
• Students need to use LinkedIn (we're there, folks)
• Networking issues
• Private vs. professional self
• Use Facebook proactively when searching.