When business and personal life collide

When business and personal life collide


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Paul Nelson reportingMany people may like to keep their business life and their social life separate, but what happens when those two things collide online?

The Computer Lab in the Union Building at the University of Utah is a hopping place during this part of the school semester. Lots of students there have an account on either MySpace.com or Facebook.com, although the students I spoke with prefer Facebook.

One man named Andrew said, "The main reason is it's mostly college students on there." One woman named Kylee said, "That's just basically it, it's just more secure."

I asked these students if there was anything on their Facebook page they wouldn't want their boss to see, like pictures of them partying or acting all crazy. They straightened their halos and said, "No."

Kylee said, "I don't think so. [I just] have pictures." Andrew said, "No, not really." He also said he's not giving trade secrets away or making fun of his co-workers on Facebook.

When business and personal life collide

There are others, though, who are seeing some problems when their social networking sites reveal a little too much, especially with business contacts. One woman says her homosexuality was outed when a professional contact saw her online pictures. Even the mayor of Arlington, Ore., is feeling heat from putting pictures of herself in sexy underwear on MySpace.

Jason Alba is the co-author of the book "I'm on Facebook, Now What?" He says, "It's a huge issue right now in the career space, with hiring. Recruiters are finding MySpace and Facebook pages. Alba says Utah is an "at will" employment state, so bosses can fire you for your online profile.

"If I can find it, and I'm your boss, then my customer can find it, too," says Alba. "The last thing I want is for my customer to go out and do a Google search on your name and go see pictures that are not going to be conducive to the brand I want my company to be portraying."

He says even if you use a completely different name on MySpace or Facebook, people can still find you through your friends list.

If you have questionable pictures posted online, Alba says you can post more favorable pictures, and that would put the pictures you don't want to be found further down on the Google search list.

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