A new study found that the race, gender and internet literacy of people affect the way they manage their social media online profile and can sometimes even cost them a job opportunity.
With the boom in the internet revolution, the world web has become an excellent source for employers to look for potential job applicants. Researcher from Northwestern University conducted a first of its kind study that looked at how different demographics of young adults approach online reputation management strategies during a job search.
For the study, researchers asked 545 young adults, aged either 21 or 22 to answer a survey. Among the participants, 507 reported they used social networking sites. The survey's primary aim was to collect information about the extent to which young adults monitor their self-presentation on social media networks and their privacy-related Internet skills and knowledge.
Researchers found that men, Hispanics and those with lower Internet skills were less likely to create a social media online profile that catered to employment-related audiences while women, whites and those with higher Internet skills were more likely to efficiently manage the privacy settings of their online profiles to cater to such audiences.
Authors of the study noted that 34.5 percent of men and 25 percent of women never managed their privacy settings or the content of their social media profiles with respect to an employer audience. Those more knowledgeable about Internet privacy matters and privacy-related terms, such as "tagging," "limited profile" and "preference settings," were more likely to engage in managing the privacy of their social media profiles
"Young people could benefit from understanding the implications of these issues," said Eszter Hargittai, lead author of the study in a press release. "Without adequate privacy settings, inappropriate pictures or comments posted on a social media profile could be seen by an employer and cost you a job opportunity."
Hargittai notes that such privacy settings could be very complex, what with sites' privacy settings constantly changing. However, she warns that if people don't keep up to date with the changes, they may leave content on their profiles that earlier had restricted access, open to public view.