Sample Post—Good post, 2 points

Employers reading Facebook pages

This is an article that provides information about how often employers screen applicants based on their Facebook pages, and what kinds of things cause employers to pass on otherwise qualified applicants.  I think the author of the article has a good point.  Why is it the employer’s business if an applicant drinks and takes pictures of himself after work?

But, on the other hand, the author of this article doesn’t consider the PR impact.  If I do a good job during the day, but have these crazy pictures floating around, doesn’t that damage the image of my employer, if anyone can Google me and find both my employer and my weekend pictures?  So, in this case, my after-work activities could actually harm my employer’s brand image.  Does that make it legitimate for the employer to choose not to hire me?

[Here, we see a high-quality post.  There's a link to a relevant article, and some discussion that doesn't just summarize the article, but steps back from it and comments on it as well.  The discussion here, furthermore, is about whether and why this might be justifiable—it's not just about practical advice, but it asks about how things ought to be done]

Feel free to comment on this post, if you like!  It’s an issue we’ll talk about again in class in a couple months.

Sample Post—Poor post, 1 point

Warning:  Employers Screen Facebook Profiles!

Read this article!  Employers are now often looking through Facebook profiles and screening potential employees based on what they find there.  We might be used to thinking of those spaces as our own, but unless they’re set to private, employers can find them.  And, no matter what, the profile picture is always public!

[So, here, we have a bit more commentary.  Although the commentary is still a little short.  More importantly, though, it doesn't address the ethical component of the article!  The commentary is concerned just with practical issues and consequences, and not with moral issues and concerns.]

Sample Post—Bad post, no points

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/20/annoying.facebook.updaters/index.html

Wheaties!  lol.

[Here is an example of a bad post.  There's a link, but it's not on topic.  The commentary is both uninformative and off-topic.  Also, the link is dead!  To provide an active link, write something, select it with the cursor, and then click on the "link" button right above the text entry field.  That'll give you a popup where you can paste in the URL.  We'll do this once in class, in case there's any confusion.]