Second week of school, second discussion board post!

I told you I'd be more consistant on this blog thingy now that I'm in school! The second week of my Digital Literacy class has started, and that means there is a second class discussion board to write for! Here is this week's topic:

The Internet has been noted as a helpful research tool. However there are many rumors that spread across the Internet and misinformation is provided. Knowing that misinformation can run rampant on the Internet, it is important to manage and monitor your personal information and how you are perceived on the Internet.

• What social media networks do you currently use?

• If someone were to search for you on the Internet, how do you think you might be perceived based on the information available? Explain.

• What do you think about future employers “Googling” or using social media sites to research you before they hire you – to use what’s said and shown on the web as a “virtual” reference? Check out these articles: Wall Street Journal, ERE Media, & Ars Technica. In the future, if you become responsible for hiring employees, will you use the Internet to find out information about any prospects?

And here is my response:

Up until about a year ago, I was very absent from all online social media networks. This changed as I really started gearing up to start school and pursue a career in the video game industry. To be in an industry, you have to insert yourself into the dialogue, so I created a Twitter account (@NinjaPatBeck) for mainly that purpose. I follow and interact with several gaming journalists and developers, including some of my biggest sources of inspiration (check out my podcast project to see who!).  I also write a personal blog as a way to practice and develop a writing style. And because it is fun. It can be found at ninjapatbeck.blogspot.com for anyone who is interested.

The concept of an online reputation is very intriguing to me, and was something that I thought heavily about before creating either my Twitter account or my blog. 10 years ago, it was very easy and common to have an online identity that in no way reflected your real person; with the widespread use of online social networks using real information, that practice is less and less common, and the line between online and real identities has definitely blurred. Books like Ready Player One and movies like Summer Wars are glimpses into the future, not just great literature.

I try to take that into account as I use Twitter and write on my blog. I want anyone who sees what I put online to perceive that online persona as me. That is also a large part of why I use my real name in my screen name for everything online. I think that anyone who searches for me online and reads what they find will perceive me the same as if they approached me in person and engaging me in a conversation. This is what I have designed my online persona to be.

I actually think that, under certain circumstances, the use of social networking sites and the Internet as a “virtual” reference can be perfectly acceptable. For example, if in the future, I was looking to fill a position in a small team that works very closely together, I would want to know more about the person’s personality and how they would work with the other members of that team than two or three face-to-face interviews are going to reveal. However, if the job requires someone with a specific skill and relies less heavily on collaboration, or if I were hiring a whole new team, there is little reason to look further than a resume, interview, and references provided by the potential employer.

I don’t think that the practice of using social networking sites as a reference should ever be done without the applicant’s knowledge though, and currently, there is far too much potential for discrimination based on the information that can be found online. It is actually illegal to ask questions regarding religion, age, marital and family status, health, physical abilities, and nationality during an interview, and most or all of that can be found through inappropriate use of online information.

As more and more of our personal lives occur “virtually” online, it is only natural to think that other aspects of life are going to become virtual as well, including the business practices of checking references and researching a potential employee. But the responsibilities that go along with this are on both sides: the individual needs to be smart about what information they make available online and where it is, and the companies need to use that information appropriately.

I thought this was a really interesting topic, and I'm looking forward to hearing what people think about what I wrote. So please share your thoughts with me either in the comments below, or through Twitter @NinjaPatBeck! Thanks to all of you who read this! Working on another project for school that should be ready soon!