Using facebook with a fake last name

[Revalos]

OK...for as much as I hate to admit that I've avoided joining facebook for several years now, but I just couldn't keep staying away when everyone I know uses it to communicate. I joined today with a fake last name.

I saw once I joined that I could set an alternate name for myself, but am I going to run into any issues just leaving the fake name there? I don't really want people to find me on there, obviously, but other than that?

[Drew]

Just leave your fake name.

[Tisket]

Are you on a most wanted list somewhere?

[Deathravin]

My wife is on it under a fake name. I'm sort of an anti-social freak who wants to keep the past in the past, so I wouldn't join it at all.

I dunno, call me old or anti-social or a nerd, but I still think the best part about the internet is the anonymity. Creating an identity that is separate from your own... where at a moments notice you can drop it and pick up a new identity if you like and there are almost no ties to your real life.

I'm not on Facebook, but if I did join, I'd make up a completely fake name and only my friends and family would know who I am.

[Revalos]

My wife is on it under a fake name. I'm sort of an anti-social freak who wants to keep the past in the past, so I wouldn't join it at all.

I dunno, call me old or anti-social or a nerd, but I still think the best part about the internet is the anonymity. Creating an identity that is separate from your own... where at a moments notice you can drop it and pick up a new identity if you like and there are almost no ties to your real life.

I'm not on Facebook, but if I did join, I'd make up a completely fake name and only my friends and family would know who I am.

Yeah, you're describing exactly my feelings on it as well. The only reason I joined it is that all of my friends just expect everyone they know to be on it, so when they are having a party or going out they announce it on there and last night I ran into a few of them and they said that they had no idea I didn't have an account and had pretty much left me out of all their activities without realizing it.

[Deathravin]

Well my wife gets shit for making a fake name all the time. Drives me up the wall.

[Asile]

Facebook probably won't like hearing about it, but I totally respect your decision.

I don't have a fake name, but I've had high school classmates mention they couldn't find me 'cause they kept looking for my given first name (I've gone by a nickname almost exclusively, except with family, for the last 12 years) and my maiden name. Fortunately, having both names change a bit means that I can be a bit selective of what parts of my past catch up to me.

[Latrinsorm]

I think your biggest concern, Revalos, should be the appearance of hiding something (à la Tiger Woods, for instance). So long as the people who are relevant to those sort of situations are kept informed and you have no expectation of criminal investigation, I don't see how anything could go really wrong. The only other thing is if you happen to copy a real person's name who is especially popular or especially loathed, but that's pretty easy to clear up.

[4a6c1]

I dont get it.

[Methais]

OK...for as much as I hate to admit that I've avoided joining facebook for several years now, but I just couldn't keep staying away when everyone I know uses it to communicate. I joined today with a fake last name.

I saw once I joined that I could set an alternate name for myself, but am I going to run into any issues just leaving the fake name there? I don't really want people to find me on there, obviously, but other than that?

Change your name to Biff Muffbanger.

[Revalos]

Facebook probably won't like hearing about it, but I totally respect your decision.

I don't have a fake name, but I've had high school classmates mention they couldn't find me 'cause they kept looking for my given first name (I've gone by a nickname almost exclusively, except with family, for the last 12 years) and my maiden name. Fortunately, having both names change a bit means that I can be a bit selective of what parts of my past catch up to me.

Yeah, I'm not really looking to reconnect with people from the past, that is one of the reasons I really didn't want to join in the first place, I don't like my past that much. It is really the friends of the present that I care about. I think I changed every privacy setting to maximum too, so I will be able to find people, but they won't be able to find me unless they know where to look. Adding the security that if I get a weird message from someone and it uses the fake last name, I'll know they don't know me.

[Methais]

Fortunately, having both names change a bit means that I can be a bit selective of what parts of my past catch up to me.

Another effective way to do this is click the IGNORE button when someone you don't like tries to add you. http://com-official.com/600pxBigSmiley.png

[CrystalTears]

I don't get the whole giving yourself a fake name thing. So people find you, so what? If you have your profile secured to only those you accept as friends, what difference does it make? The only people who can see your info are those you want them to see. I don't see the point of being fake, especially since they keep upping how much you can hide from people. Just seems like senseless paranoia.

[NocturnalRob]

I have friends who are teachers who go by their middle names in order to avoid any potential issue with students.

[Marl]

Just use high privacy and if people you dont want to reconnect with try to add you ignore them, if they send you a message asking wtf, say I quit talking to you xx years ago what makes you think i want to start back now? and block them

[Revalos]

I have friends who are teachers who go by their middle names in order to avoid any potential issue with students.

This is really the issue in my mind. There are too many opportunities for shit to happen in the future due to facebook connections, especially with the way government works with contractors and personal connections. I already fucked up a multi million dollar contract once for something equally stupid, I'm not going to do it again.

Facebook changes privacy settings all the time, sometimes even changing what people have set it to back to default. I don't want to be on it all the time verifying what my privacy settings are that day, so I'd rather have the catch all of a fake name to obscure anything that might leak out.

[CrystalTears]

I've never had my privacy settings changed to the default in the couple of years I've been on it. :shrug:

[Clove]

Neither have I. Seriously. If someone searches for your name on FB they can find a list of people with your name... sooooo people can learn that you have a FB account (unless you allow them to know more). Jeezus, what's next? Are people going to be able to find out that you own a phone too??!?! Oh wait they already can... I guess that means they can listen in on all my phone conversations now....

FB does not "change" account settings, though they have added options to the system which at times requires you to make MORE choices, which they notify you of. Even still the concern is FB will change your privacy settings without you being aware of it just as some stalker looks you up (and filters you out from all the others who share your name). Seriously there are drugs and therapy that help with paranoia.

[Revalos]

A very quick googling came up with the following recent stories about Facebook changing privacy settings either without consent or through making it more complicated to determine what your exact settings are:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34451620

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_privacy_explanation_debate.php

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10413317-250.html

Facebook wants to make as much about you public as it can. It does not care about privacy because the only way it makes money is to sell your demographics. Maybe these articles were all hype, but as a non-user, it definitely reinforced my paranoia.

[Deathravin]

I don't get the whole giving yourself a fake name thing. So people find you, so what? If you have your profile secured to only those you accept as friends, what difference does it make? The only people who can see your info are those you want them to see. I don't see the point of being fake, especially since they keep upping how much you can hide from people. Just seems like senseless paranoia.

Why would you use your real name on the internet at all anyway? I never understood why people were so ready to just put their real name on any personal website in the first place.

Even for sites where I had to be a representative for my company, for example, as the contact for a software vendor, I would never put my name... I would put the company name and a general 'IT' title like 'software administrator'. That way when I leave the company, even if they change the functions of IT employees around, the person in charge of that task will be contacted.

With personal things, it's fairly easy to forget that everything you say on facebook and every other website, every picture you put, ever score of every game you play is forever (at least you have to consider it forever), and is owned by the website you're using (Yes, every single piece of any media you have ever put on Facebook is rightful property of facebook).

So you're putting quite a lot of trust in the future IMO. Something that isn't out of the realm of possibility (although I'm sure very unlikely), FB gets bought out by some company in Nigeria, who then puts everybody's personal data up for anybody to see forever. Now anytime I get a job, one can simply look up my name in a database and see every post I ever made.

Why would I put myself in that kind of situation when there is such an easy solution as a simple alias. At least then even if they have other information (such as IP address logs) that can link it to me, I have a chance to deny it...


I dunno, I'm probably just being an over-protective nutjob as I am in every other life situation, but it's always good to have at least two layers of protection.
In this case, it's the trust that FB won't let their data get hacked or bought (and whoever does it wont make the data public)
And my added precaution that if it were to happen, I have been using an alias.

[4a6c1]

I still dont get it.

What are you fake lastname facebooking people hiding from? Did you bang all the retarded wheelchair kids in highschool or what? In that case I would say yes, most definately change your name. With the social security administration. And move to France.

[pabstblueribbon]

Did you bang all the retarded wheelchair kids in highschool or what?

I think Seanofthethread would know a little somethin bout this.

[Deathravin]

Thought I described my concern fairly well, but it was obviously long-winded. So I'll condense it a bit.


First and foremost, I like that any information on the person behind my online identity should remain as safe as possible from any potential future threat be they illegal in nature (hacker) or legal in nature (corporate take-over).

Secondly, I prefer to leave my past in my past. I am a very private person in general. I choose very carefully who I allow into my life. I also don't like to put myself into situations that could potentially lead to bad consequences.

Facebook was named as a cause of 1 in 5 divorces last year. One of my good friends had the mother of his children leave him and his kids because she met somebody else on facebook.

I mean, I'm also the person who has a UPS box and never registered to get mail at my home mailbox because I don't believe it's anybody's business where my physical body is located (except the pizza delivery guy and the emergency services - 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3).


Why are you so willy-nilly about putting your personal information on a medium as permanent as the internet? Do you know what's going to happen in the future?

[Sweets]

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/distractedmackenzie/paranoid.jpg

[Clove]

Facebook wants to make as much about you public as it can. It does not care about privacy because the only way it makes money is to sell your demographics. Maybe these articles were all hype, but as a non-user, it definitely reinforced my paranoia.I disagree, the only way FB makes money is by selling advertisements on its site.

I repeat they do change the privacy policy and setting options from time to time which can sometimes affect your settings. They alert you to it and explain the changes. If you're 1) paranoid and 2) too lazy to monitor your own privacy settings maybe you ought not be online at all.

[Clove]

Why are you so willy-nilly about putting your personal information on a medium as permanent as the internet? Do you know what's going to happen in the future?Why are you so delusional as to think that it isn't already there?

[Deathravin]

Why are you so delusional as to think that it isn't already there?

I'm not. I'm very aware of my personal white hat, easily looked up data, and more black hat less easily looked up data. I obviously don't know everything, but I'm fairly confident I know a lot of what about me is out there and what isn't. (A majority of which seems to stem from a series of conferences I went to for my last job GRRRRRR - but thankfully I've never found anything with my non UPS box address, so I know that part at least has worked fairly well).

But in reality where I have been fairly conservative about my digital footprint, doing what I can to manage risks through my life, I do have the knowledge that if any data about me were to leak out, I have tried my best to mitigate that threat.

Where I have done many of the same white hat & black hat (well, blacker hat, I'm not trying to insinuate that I am on par with any hacker groups at all, but I do use methods that are... lets say more hidden than the average user knows about) checks on my friends and family and come up with quite a bit of personal data about them that they probably wouldn't want on the net for all to see - especially my rather careless sister.


I guess what I'm trying to say is... If there's already data about you out there, why make the pool any bigger? If it were able to be quantified, lets say my data is a cup of water in 50 places, your data might be say a fishtank in 200 places. You're more likely to get some sort of data breech, and when it is breeched you are more likely to lose information that you don't want out there, and have a higher footprint when it does.

The problem I think many people have is they aren't able to really think of the sheer volume of the internet or a time scale as long as forever (by 'forever' I mean until you die, cause really who cares about your footprint after you die).

[Deathravin]

In fact, that part of me has really been reluctant to purchase a home. Because homeowner data is completely 100% public. So anybody with my name (as it is fairly unique - I think there's maybe 3-4 of my first&last name combination in the world and probably just me with my first, middle, last) could find out my exact address from a single website.

That really shatters my whole illusion of anonymity.

[AnticorRifling]

Let me know when your manifesto is done so I can read it.

[NocturnalRob]

Let me know when you're manifesto is done so I can read it.
Insults are funnier when you're not retarded.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=your+vs+you%27re

[AnticorRifling]

Insults are funnier when you're not retarded.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=your+vs+you%27re I've made the correction and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

[NocturnalRob]

I've made the correction and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.
Anything I can do to enhance your knowledge base, sir. I am at your disposal as always.

[CrystalTears]

Facebook wants to make as much about you public as it can. It does not care about privacy because the only way it makes money is to sell your demographics. Maybe these articles were all hype, but as a non-user, it definitely reinforced my paranoia.
Yeah that's why every little piece of information I post allows me to decide who can see that information. Yeah, they really want my info to be public. Oh wait, no they don't. People want to have control over what people can see and who for that matter.

If you really want to use Facebook and have paranoia about who sees your information, you would make it priority to keep up with your privacy settings. If that's too high maintenance for you, then don't join.

As for Deathravin, you're a little too paranoid for my taste. Not buying a home because of it? Really? What in the world are you afraid of? You think you have the personality people love to stalk? Think someone is going through the list of people in the world and afraid they'll randomly choose you and start shooting at you, ala The Jerk? If someone was really out to get you, they'd find a way. You're naive if you think none of your information is out there.

[CrystalTears]

Facebook was named as a cause of 1 in 5 divorces last year. One of my good friends had the mother of his children leave him and his kids because she met somebody else on facebook.
And this has what to do with anonymity on the internet or being private? If someone's cheating, someone is being unfaithful. Should it matter what the avenue was that lead to it?

That isn't the fault of Facebook. That is people much like all the other online nutjobs in the world who fall for people they talk to online and just leave everything behind to chase that dream. Blame the people being unfaithful and careless.

You may as well not play Gemstone or WoW either, since the number of people who have changed relationships is staggering.

[4a6c1]

Secondly, I prefer to leave my past in my past. I am a very private person in general. I choose very carefully who I allow into my life. I also don't like to put myself into situations that could potentially lead to bad consequences.



You should just call the retarded wheelchair kids and apologize.

No but seriously guy, it's the internet. Everytime you connect you could possibly be getting the clap from a Saigon hooker. Being selective with facebook is like only putting a condom on when the hooker is drunk. It makes no sense.

[NocturnalRob]

Being selective with facebook is like only putting a condom on when the hooker is drunk.
what's the point?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/28/health/main5045514.shtml

[4a6c1]

I totally understand the need for privacy. I do. If I were you I would just say...actually when I was me (past tense) I just said...I like to do freaky shit I dont want corporate America connecting the mask with the suit, wtf, mind your own business peeps. Amirite?

But seriously guy, quit blaming Facebook.


edit: In other News, Rob has 150 accidental children out there. And 150 accidental moms all waiting 18 years to collect back child support on the same day. Talk about a time bomb.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

This is really the issue in my mind. There are too many opportunities for shit to happen in the future due to facebook connections, especially with the way government works with contractors and personal connections. I already fucked up a multi million dollar contract once for something equally stupid, I'm not going to do it again.

Facebook changes privacy settings all the time, sometimes even changing what people have set it to back to default. I don't want to be on it all the time verifying what my privacy settings are that day, so I'd rather have the catch all of a fake name to obscure anything that might leak out.

You don't have to put shit in it. If you aren't posting anything and only use it to read invites to parties (which would be on others walls or mails), you've got nothing to worry about.

Sounds to me like you intend on participating in something that will come back and bite you in the future. Just don't do it and be accountable to yourself.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

In fact, that part of me has really been reluctant to purchase a home. Because homeowner data is completely 100% public. So anybody with my name (as it is fairly unique - I think there's maybe 3-4 of my first&last name combination in the world and probably just me with my first, middle, last) could find out my exact address from a single website.

That really shatters my whole illusion of anonymity.

LOL. What do you do that anyone would care?

[NocturnalRob]

edit: In other News, Rob has 150 accidental children out there. And 150 accidental moms all waiting 18 years to collect back child support on the same day. Talk about a time bomb.
wanna make it 151?

http://bikenfool.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/bacardi-151-lg.jpg

[AnticorRifling]

LOL. What do you do that anyone would care? Nothing.

[Stanley Burrell]

I stopped having Facebook a couple months ago or whatever, but now I'm going to reactivate my Facebook -- I just don't want them to send me a hundred thousand fucking million things to my main e-mail like "So and so just scratched their balls" or "Tranny McVestite just heavy petted you using the newest iPhone/Facebook compatible application, do you want to sign up."

But the real reason is because Warclaidhm won't be my friend.

[Latrinsorm]

Why are you so willy-nilly about putting your personal information on a medium as permanent as the internet?Most people have a tacit and mostly consistent acceptance of risky behavior - driving, drinking, sports, eating food prepared by someone else. There are a number of fields to weigh, at a conscious level or otherwise; for instance, the level of risk, the ability and effort required to minimize that risk, and the level of benefit. The risk in this case is the possibility that someone somewhere at some point might gain access to information that you might not want them to have. The effort you expend to minimize (but not eliminate) that risk is substantial. Substantial effort against a vague, relatively harmless risk is a straightforward decision for lots of people.

Saying that these people are ignorant of the future of people attempting to obtain their information is correct. It is equally correct to say that you are ignorant of the future of people attempting to wire explosives to your car's ignition.

[Deathravin]

LOL. What do you do that anyone would care?

Well lets just put a camera up everybody's ass too while we're at it - if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear.

Liberty wont be lost all at once. It will leave very gradually. With one concession slowly calming the public to the next. And when somebody does look back and see how far from Liberty we've come, it will be too late to do anything about it.


There's absolutely nothing I do today or have done in my past that anybody should care about. But I'm not thinking about today. I'm thinking about the future. About as mitigating and preparing for as many possible outcomes as I can.

What if

It's a powerful thought that I constantly think about. Scenarios I've gone over in my head that I have prepared for are everything from 'what if I go to the bank and they say all my money's gone?' to 'what if I get picked up by an alien, how would I start to try to communicate (after I shit myself)?'. Each in surprising detail.

So in this case, any scenario where I might to want to conceal my identity, my personal whereabouts, or my friends and family against a moderately determined limited means foe. Obviously I can't protect myself against the IRS or anybody who really tries, but somebody on the internet or on the street with a grief, be it real or a product of a deranged mind.

To be fair, my wife has a nutjob of a sister with some pretty scary potential who has tried to find us in the past and been unable. So at least some of my protections are effective.


This is getting pretty far off the original topic... and to think I was going to change my avatar.

[Latrinsorm]

To be fair, my wife has a nutjob of a sister with some pretty scary potential who has tried to find us in the past and been unable.Why didn't you lead with this? (Besides the fact that it's a piece of personal information that is now available forever.) If someone is manifestly out to get you, that's a much different situation than someone possibly someday being out to get you.

[Deathravin]

The effort you expend to minimize (but not eliminate) that risk is substantial. Substantial effort against a vague, relatively harmless risk is a straightforward decision for lots of people.

Saying that these people are ignorant of the future of people attempting to obtain their information is correct. It is equally correct to say that you are ignorant of the future of people attempting to wire explosives to your car's ignition.

Well I do take precautions against that kind of thing, as I've said in my previous too-long ramblings.

At least you see the correlation. Caution is Caution. Whether it's not buying a car without a title or not using your physical address for anything on the internet (and nothing attached to anything on the internet, e.g. credit cards, etc). There are things that will slip through the cracks, sure, but at least you can say you tried your best within reason.


I'm not over here lining my house with tinfoil or anything, I don't have my hard drives set up with failsafe electromagnet erasers that have to be reset by hand each day (as some of the more eccentric IT people I've met do). I take very reasonable, very practical, very easy precautions. It's not energy at all, believe me if it took energy to do I wouldn't do it. I'm a very lazy person.

It's more of a state of mind, and knowing what somebody wants rather what they ask for.

[Deathravin]

Why didn't you lead with this? (Besides the fact that it's a piece of personal information that is now available forever.) If someone is manifestly out to get you, that's a much different situation than someone possibly someday being out to get you.

AH, but Latrinsorm. She wasn't always crazy. She has gradually become more and more crazy. When I first met her, 10 years ago, she was a very sweet and lovely person.

The things I did in my life naturally protected me against this future threat. I didn't have to change my address, or my phone numbers or change the way I did anything. I was already protected.

My forward thinking prevented problems. I avoided that drama completely because I thought ahead.

Where some of her other brothers & sisters had to move, change their numbers, get lawyers and call police. I didn't.

[Showal]

I have never understood the idea of joining a public forum (like this or facebook) and then posting stuff you wouldn't want seen under any circumstances and relying on the securities set up by the website to protect you.

Why would you post a journal or blog on facebook or myspace and restrict access to it from everyone? Why post it there at all? There are many many better options for keeping your thoughts safe. There are many better options for keeping personal pictures safe.

What's really the motivation to join? Usually you join these things to share personal information and pictures. I want people that I have accepted or selected to know what I'm up to or to see recent pictures. I don't put information on that I don't want people to see up there.

I imagine the second I start becoming so paranoid that someone I don't want to find me will, in fact, find me through one of these services, I will stop using them. I'm also not under the illusion that I have a LOT of people going through a LOT of trouble to locate me and cause me problems. I'm not that important.

[Deathravin]

I imagine the second I start becoming so paranoid that someone I don't want to find me will, in fact, find me through one of these services, I will stop using them. I'm also not under the illusion that I have a LOT of people going through a LOT of trouble to locate me and cause me problems. I'm not that important.

But you can't say this for the future. You never know what's going to happen.

[Showal]

But you can't say this for the future. You never know what's going to happen.

That brings up the part where I said:

I don't put information on that I don't want people to see up there.

[CrystalTears]

That brings up the part where I said:

I don't put information on that I don't want people to see up there.
This.

I just don't see the point of joining a social network that's meant for sharing information if you have no intention of SHARING anything about you. If I'm sharing myself, I'd like people to share their information whom I've trusted to do the same. I don't friend people with fake names because that's saying that they want me to trust them but they don't trust me. Fuck that.

[Deathravin]

Internet should have stayed just porn and paranoid nerds... freakin chicks and n00bs messing it all up.

[Cephalopod]

I don't know what's going on in this thread, but that's never stopped me from commenting before:

If it's on the internet, assume it's public.

[AnticorRifling]

I'm waiting for the presidental debate where one of the canidates is met with this:

Sir while you make a valid point can I reference this post here where you posted as bonin_sluts_34: My penis is like a waffle you just can't leggo my eggo.

[Deathravin]

Wonder if that means he's 34 years old and is a boner of sluts, if he's been bonin sluts for 34 years, he has boned 34 sluts, had once boned 34 sluts at one time, or he is a slut boner who was born in 34... I have to know...

[AnticorRifling]

You'll never know because bonin_sluts_34 is a paranoid nut job and has a fake name on facebook!

[Deathravin]

Oh, I have tasted my own medicine and it is BITTER!

[AnticorRifling]

hahaha

[Sweets]

Deathravin, you should read "The Light of Other Days" - Arthur C. Clark and Stephen Baxter. It'll make you feel better.

[Showal]

I would advise against it, Deathravin. I think your wife's sister is searching every library and bookstore and online store to see if you buy this book so she can find you.

[4a6c1]

Also 1984 by Orwell. Always a fav for the jittery types.

[Clove]

In fact, that part of me has really been reluctant to purchase a home. Because homeowner data is completely 100% public. So anybody with my name (as it is fairly unique - I think there's maybe 3-4 of my first&last name combination in the world and probably just me with my first, middle, last) could find out my exact address from a single website.

That really shatters my whole illusion of anonymity.I'm sorry for your illness. I sincerely hope you find help and support you require.

[Cephalopod]

Mostly unrelated:
http://www.lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/thats-a-bumme-bill2.png

[Latrinsorm]

Who didn't see that coming a mile away? The answer is that guy.

[Methais]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a162/DoyleHargraves/Clipboard02-2.jpg

[Deathravin]

http://www.switched.com/2010/01/28/happy-data-privacy-day-70-of-job-applicants-rejected-over-onli/

We know you've probably had the date circled on your calendar for months now, but, in case you needed reminding, today is the 4th annual Data Privacy Day. The Microsoft-sponsored non-holiday was created exclusively to raise the public's awareness of major online privacy issues. And to commemorate this most cautious of days, Microsoft has released the results from a recent study that show just how negligent we are when it comes to managing our online image -- and how seriously that kind of negligence can hamper our chances of landing a job.

In a survey of Web-surfers, human resource workers, and employment recruiters across the U.S., U.K., Germany and France, researchers found that, although most people acknowledge that their personal online behavior may have ramifications in their professional lives, comparatively few actually consider that fact when publishing photos or posts online. A full 70-percent of surveyed HR workers in the U.S. admitted to rejecting a job applicant because of his or her Internet behavior. Meanwhile, about 60-percent of surfers admit to being concerned that their online behavior may affect their professional or personal lives. A mere 15-percent of them, though, actually take these potential repercussions into consideration when posting content.

By the same token, digital reputation can also have an equally positive effect on an applicant's chances; 86-percent of U.S. HR workers said that a good online reputation can have a positive impact on a job candidate's chances -- and about half said that a solid image can have a major impact. It's this positive spin that Microsoft's Peter Cullen wants readers to take away from the study, saying that "online reputation is not something to be scared of; it's something to be proactively managed." He urges the regular Web-user to cultivate "the online reputation that you would want an employer" to see.

In an ideal world, of course, your personal life would be impermeably separated from your professional existence. As we all know -- and as this study plainly shows -- that's just not the case anymore. We wouldn't recommend turning your Facebook profile into some saccharine rendition of a cover letter, though, as overt self-promotion is probably as much of a professional turn-off as those pics of you taking Jell-O shots freshman year. But just be aware that your online character is as much a part of your CV as your off-line character. It sucks, but it's reality. [From: Microsoft]

[Clove]

This isn't about how negligent people are, this is about how paranoid YOU are.

[Sean of the Thread]

Not sure if this has been posted but it's on my morning bookmark read.


http://facebookfails.com/

Hilarious shit most of the time.

(right BEFORE the job pages but in my defense I'm having coffee whilst reading it.)