The Long Trail Left Online

May 14, 2012

It’s a discussion that probably taken place in countless families, colleges and companies over the past few years. People remind each other that the photos and comments they leave on line create a long-lasting record that can hurt or haunt a job seeker well into their career.

The reality is that the talk is necessary. As documented in Untangling the Social Web, the new study of social networking from the Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council of North America, 250 million photos are added to Facebook every day and 250 million tweets are posted on Twitter. In other words, a lot of evidence gets added to the pile each and every day.

What’s interesting is how this information gets used. In Part 5 of the study, which details professional use of social networking, a growing number of companies reject applicants after finding exaggerations of their skills and experiences through social networking pages. Even more damning are demeaning comments individuals make about their current managers, co-workers or companies. In many ways, social networking allows companies a level of scrutiny of recruits unattainable in earlier times.

All five parts of this new study can be downloaded for free at www.ccrrc.org (North America page).

Michael Sansolo

Research Director

Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council of North America