Generation Y and Social Media
15 Dec
This past week, Bob Ledrew, Cait Lafleche and I spoke at an IABC Senior Communicator’s dinner to discuss youth and social media. Many issues arose during our discussions, but one in particular has stuck with me. With our current media landscape, people are always under surveillance from pictures at a party to a comment on a Myspace page and all of it being documented. I understand this now as I begin my journey as a public relations practitioner on how important my activities can be for my own personal brand and the company I work for in the future.
However, I still have a hard time with this because I grew up using different types of social media and it shaped part of my identity especially when I was young girl confused and unsure of my future. I remember using ICQ when I was in high school and pretending to be the other Katie Boland, the actress from Zack Files, because at that time I wanted to be an actress and I didn’t understand what I was doing could be wrong. Or the personal entries I wrote in my livejournal for over six years and how it kept me close with my best friends despite being in different cities.
All these things are true and they shaped the person I am today, and I have a hard time if an employer would judge me on my behaviour when I was nineteen and the person I loved broke my heart. I have grown a lot in the last few years, and I know that how you handle things can be a true reflection of who you are, but I think judging people solely on things that may have happened a few years ago is not fair, especially for someone my age. When you are young, a lot changes in a year.
Many people have their opinions about this, what do you think? What is fair game for employers to judge recruits on?
I also have a hard time thinking that somebody would judge me for something I posted on the internet when I was 16 or 17. Everyone has a past, and to me any smart employer would realize that. Speaking about this topic with other people, many have said that they refuse to erase pieces of their past off of the internet or to sensor their current material (facebook page, blog, etc), because why would they want an employer who would judge them based on this?
I agree with this to an extent… I think that people are allowed to have a life outside of work, and if an employer finds a picture of me with beer in hand all that should say is that I do have a life outside of the workplace. That being said, I can understand why an employer would judge if they find pictures of someone ridiculously intoxicated and passed out on a bench downtown floating around the internet… They probably don’t want THAT representing their company.