I'd much rather live in a society where voyeurs like you don't get to know intimate details about me like how much sex I have or don't have.

I'd much rather live in a society where voyeurs like you don't get to know intimate details about me like how much sex I have or don't have.

1. Those photos are so obviously staged I can’t imagine Bono, Simon, or anyone being surprised by them or “put in an ‘interesting’ situation.” Those aren’t candid shots. And someone was behind that camera.

2. Recently, we were discussing “on line brand” with a 20-something friend of our. She made this comment:

Now, perhaps things are a bit touchy, when a prospective employer or recruiter can pull up a facebook picture and reject someone out of hand. But give it 5 or 10 years. Then the prospective employee will be doing the exact same thing (if they aren’t already). When most of “use” are discoverable on line, te playing field will be much more level. (My boss did _what_ over the weekend? Maybe what happens on the weekend needs to stay out of the office…)

At some point, we, as a society are going to have to accept that we have a ‘permanent record’ now… and that everything and anything we say or do may be subject to public scrutiny on the internet.

It’s a new world.

This post has started a number of thought threads for me, which is interesting because my first reaction was “yes, another reminder.” But, this goes a bit deeper, especially the idea that students/perspective hires are being pre-screened and rejected based on their online profiles. In some industries, discretion is highly valued. This could help make sure employer/employee are a good fit from earlier on.

I am concerned about the personal privacy implications, however. I have a far different “sharing” threshold than others, and it bothers me to no end that no matter how careful I am with my own pictures and information, that can be shot to heck by someone else–quite possibly someone I barely know. The implications of that are quite troubling, I think.

Jen

@gregory, thanks for stopping by. obviously middle schools aren’t prepping students for the social web, so taking a story like this as a way of introducing a positive conversation seems like a good idea.

@adrian, interesting perspective. if anything, this story served as a segue to the more important discussion about students and professionals and how facebook, myspace and other social networks are reviewed prior to an in-person meeting. For Bono, the pictures are harmless and I’m pretty sure he’s moved on – if he even heard about this at all.

@larissa fair, good to hear from you! perhaps she did realize what it meant and used it as an opp to boost her social capital…? See you in Nov!

@greg rollett, I agree…The Mail indeed is guilty of blowing it out of the water as well as the other tabloids who used it as an opp to sell sensationalism. Here, we used it as an opp to introduce how social networks are representations of who we are and what we stand for, whether we know it or not, and therefore we should start to rethink what we share and what we portray online. Good thoughts!

@gregory, you have to give me a bit of leeway while I’m on the road. moderation from an iphone isn’t streamlined.