Creepy Start-Up Or Sign Of The Times?

[tabatha]

A Santa Barbara, Calif., start-up is officially launching a social media screening and monitoring service Tuesday that the nation’s 14.9 million unemployed might want to know about before their next job interview.

Social Intelligence Corp. is essentially taking the traditional background checks that are commonly used by corporate human resource departments to look for things like criminal records and moving them online to track social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, LinkedIn, and individual blogs.

“You cannot believe the things that we see. The amount of references to drugs and alcohol and the amount of provocative photos and the things that people say is jaw dropping,” says Max Drucker, chief executive of Social Intelligence Corp. “People that we see that are applying for jobs that have this kind of really incriminating information out there.”

The background screening services market generates some $3 billion in annual revenue, but Drucker claims that most companies are simply using Google on an ad hoc basis for quick online searches on prospective employees and do little to monitor the online habits of potential and existing employees.

http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/2010/09/28/creepy-start-up-or-sign-of-the-times/

http://www.freshnews.com/news/388714/social-intelligence-corp-launches-social-media-background-check-monitoring-employers

http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Employers-Can-Screen-Applicants-Via-Socail-Network-Sites-103966663.html

[marmar]

1. Both.

nt

[Edweird]

2. It's smart to get out in front of any potential issues.

[j420norcal]

3. Privacy laws really need to keep up with growing internet trends.

In the mean time, be careful with what you post/upload to any social networks you belong to.

Edit: I find people like Mr. Drucker and the company he founded to be enablers of "The Suck".

[Newsjock]

4. The CEO is an Obama supporter

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/max-drucker.asp?cycle=08