# Are you concerned that your employer (or potential employer) is reading your Facebook page? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004 "2012-02-25T21:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/21 "2012-02-26T09:08:27Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > s. However, I had learned at a previous job that you never mention your place of work using any identifiable information on the internet. I never said a single thing about work on Facebook or any other account that could be linked to me, and I have NEVER used the company’s name or any other employee’s full name on the internet. This. I never discuss work on FB. I do not have my employer listed on my profile. The reason why I don’t friend more of my coworkers is because of this – I don’t want ANYTHING tracing back to me as to who my employer is. It’s none of FB’s business. On a semi-unrelated note, management at my employer was recently told to unfriend any coworker they had on FB who wasn’t management. I don’t know what brought that about, but I agree with it. I didn’t friend my manager, for instance, because I didn’t think it was proper. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/22 "2012-02-26T09:29:48Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > On a semi-unrelated note, management at my employer was recently told to unfriend any coworker they had on FB who wasn’t management. I don’t know what brought that about, but I agree with it. I didn’t friend my manager, for instance, because I didn’t think it was proper. Conversely, I am friends with two vice-presidents at the place I used to work for – they are one level up from my former supervisor, and hence were two levels up from me. One posts practically nothing on FB; the other posts at least daily, mostly with things of professional interest rather than of a personal nature. My former supervisor, on the other hand, is not on FB: not because she disapproves of it, but because she’s not really interested in that kind of social networking. So when I told her there were pictures of my grandson on FB, she just told me to send them to her in an email. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/23 "2012-02-26T12:43:09Z")
I’m not concerned about it, I just assume they will track it if they have reason to. My company “strongly discourages” identifying them as my employer (for security reasons), and I do as they wish. FWIW, my FB activity is almost nil (and pretty mundane). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/24 "2012-02-26T13:32:28Z")
The issue isn’t that the company you work for is tracking your Facebook postings and you will “get in trouble”. I would say nearly every single one doesn’t track that stuff. It’s expensive and there is little return for tracking personal online activities on web sites that are outside the company’s network. The problem is that when you post stupid shit online about yourself and your fellow employees or managers read it, it can carry over into the workplace. For example, I was surfing Facebook one day at work at it happens that one of my staff is friends with a friend of mine. Well, as it also happened, he had photos of them in a bar drinking while she was supposed to be at work (and I could tell what day it was because of all the St Pattrick’s Day shit in the background.) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/25 "2012-02-26T13:40:45Z")
I don’t have any employment information listed on my FB page, and wall posts are only viewable by friends. I only have one co-worker listed as a friend, and she is under different management anyway. I don’t go out and get drunk anyway (not interested), so no drunken pictures of me are going to appear anywhere. I do post about controversial political and social issues, but my management pretty much knows my views on those anyway, and if they had a problem with my views (which they don’t; they generally have the same opinions that I do), I wouldn’t care anyway - anyone who would take adverse action against me in the workplace because of my political opinions is someone I don’t want to be working for, anyway. I occasionally rant about work, but not by using the name of my employer, any specific person, or any identifying client information. So even if my management could read my page, which they can’t, they aren’t going to find out anything about me that they don’t already know. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/26 "2012-02-26T15:39:59Z")
I’m terrified of my employer. If I named them on my Facebook page and said anything negative, I wouldn’t get any sleep. My friends know where I work, but it isn’t anywhere on my page. I complain about things in very general terms sometimes, but I’ll never say anything specific enough that they could or would ding me. I would never post anything about drunken binges on Facebook even if I had a drunken binge, which I never have. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/27 "2012-02-26T16:27:35Z")
No. Primarily because I don’t have any social networking pages. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/28 "2012-02-26T18:18:49Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > .. most HR people, but I think if they’re too lazy to read a resume, they’re not going to spend their time reading random Facebook pages. > [@](#): > > An applicant didn’t get a job because there were pictures of him drinking a beer in his college dorm room. Someone got fired because they ‘checked in’ at a gay bar on a Saturday night. I don’t know about big HR departments, but I do know about small places: Two friends who own small retail shops. They both told me that the first thing they do before hiring a cashier for a summer job is check the internet ,both google and facebook. And they both have told me about the stupid people who are rejected because their private lives show up as such a public trainwreck. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/29 "2012-02-26T19:39:23Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > But I think most of the hype is garbage. An applicant didn’t get a job because there were pictures of him drinking a beer in his college dorm room. Someone got fired because they ‘checked in’ at a gay bar on a Saturday night. I think most of the concern is when you’re interviewing, not when you’re already working at a company, other than a small number of companies that are unusually strict in what they expect from their employees when not on company time. I would be surprised if someone wasn’t hired just because of pictures of him drinking a beer in a dorm, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was passed over for a job because of pictures of him black out drunk, or getting into fights, or bragging about or showing illegal behavior, or other unseemly acts. Almost any HR person would be concerned first about the behavior, and then about that the applicant isn’t smart enough to have the proper privacy settings up to prevent people from seeing that information. Someone being fired because they “checked in” at a gay bar is another concern. Many states in the U.S. don’t have protected status for sexual orientation, so an employer could fire someone if it was found out that the employee was gay. Most companies wouldn’t care, but some companies, and especially some specific HR people and managers might. It’s probably unlikely that it would happen to someone working at GE or something big and diverse company, but at a small company in a small town or something religious affiliated, it’s a definite possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/30 "2012-02-26T19:55:04Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Someone being fired because they “checked in” at a gay bar is another concern. Many states in the U.S. don’t have protected status for sexual orientation, so an employer could fire someone if it was found out that the employee was gay. Most companies wouldn’t care, but some companies, and especially some specific HR people and managers might. It’s probably unlikely that it would happen to someone working at GE or something big and diverse company, but at a small company in a small town or something religious affiliated, it’s a definite possibility. That’s truly unfortunate. I love the way my company handles same-sex relationships. They specifically include GLBT as a diversity category in our newsletter, and domestic partners qualify for our health benefits. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/31 "2012-02-26T20:07:19Z")
My boss my facebook page every time I post. I know because he regularly comments on anything I post. I had security settings in place earlier, but the privacy policies changed (again) and I’ve been too lazy to update my settings because it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything I don’t want him to see. Still, it creeps me out that he’ll ask about my daughter’s sleep habits, the fever I had earlier or whatever other bullshit I post. I would defriend him, but he’s the kind of person who would probably realize what I’d done and retaliate. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/32 "2012-02-26T20:12:42Z")
Somebody at my workplace misconstrued something I had posted on FB last year and things got a bit ugly for a while. It has since settled down, but I am much more careful about what I post, customizing, and trusting people in general. ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/33 "2012-02-26T20:16:28Z")
I’m not too worried about it. I have my page pretty locked down and am actually friends with some people from work and even my boss. I never post anything there about work, or if I do, all I say is something innocuous like “It’s been a long day”. I really don’t post anything anywhere that I would be embarrassed about or get in trouble for. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/34 "2012-02-26T20:22:57Z")
All three of my immediate supervisors are my Facebook friends, and until she deleted it last month, I was also friends with their boss’ wife. I just don’t post anything stupid. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/35 "2012-02-26T23:58:45Z")
The summer before last I was temping at a small company where the atmosphere was horrible. Unlike any place I had ever been, just freakily nasty. People didn’t speak to each other, reacted weirdly to my cheeriness, lunch was silent. Slowly I worked out what it was: an employee had found out a colleague didn’t have the qualifications he said he had on his cv and snitched on him. He was in serious trouble, it was some important course I think (I really don’t know, I was only temping). Anyway, I think she found out through FB, because she found he had been somewhere else at the time and so couldn’t have done it. She verified it with a mutual friend, I think. Also, before that I worked as a front office manager in a small hotel. We used to check out fb/myspace pages (& generally google people) before hiring. Needless to say I have stringent privacy settings on FB. I started with a fake name, but then people I was working with used that name to put in the play’s programme and it became my stage name. Pfff ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/36 "2012-02-27T00:20:52Z")
No. Nothing I post on there would get me in trouble, partly because I’m discreet, but mainly because I don’t do anything that would get me in trouble with work. Well, some employers would have a problem with me being gay, but there’s not a lot I can do about that and I’m pretty sure my current employers don’t care about my sexuality at all. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/37 "2012-02-27T01:13:26Z")
I work for a very permissive (and small) company. I’m Facebook friends with everyone in the company from the president on down. Not worried. If they didn’t care about the raucous bachelorette party pictures that have been up there forever, I really doubt anything else would phase them. Judging from the postings from other employees, I don’t think anyone else worries about it either. We know each others’ business pretty well already, frankly (company events tend to revolve around alcohol and we have big mouths). We’re all just pretty comfortable with each other I guess, and the company has a long history of not giving a shit about your background, creed or sexual orientation. I’m glad I don’t really need to hide stuff. Of course, I don’t go out of my way to offend or upset people, but that’s mostly because I’m not a dick, not because I’m worried about workplace problems. That said, were I looking for a job again, I would lock down many aspects of my profile as a precaution. In this economy, the smallest thing can disqualify you and I wouldn’t want to worry that some silly picture from a party or my status as an atheist is going to disqualify me. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/38 "2012-02-27T01:31:25Z")
My boss has been known to confront people with things they have posted to Facebook. I am not FB friends with my boss, and I don’t say anything negative about my work, my coworkers or my boss on FB. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004/39 "2012-02-27T01:41:55Z")
I don’t have an employer, a facebook page, or a twitter account. I don’t really have much of a social life either. So I’m pretty much immune on this problem. But back when I was working I once posted here about my boss getting in trouble over some embezzling accusations. And this was back when I posted under my real name. And it occurred to me that if anyone at work ever did a search under my name, they might come across my posts and pass it on to the boss, who did not have any sense of humor over things like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-concerned-that-your-employer-or-potential-employer-is-reading-your-facebook-page/614004.md?page=1)