Your blog may have ruined your political career

A few months back, while giving a lecture on social media to a group of business students, they were surprised when I mentioned that when I’m vetting people for job interviews, I care more about their blog and Facebook page than I did their cover letter.  Looks like Obama feels the same way.

From the Bulldog Reporter:

If you want a job in an Obama administration, be prepared to disclose every blog post or comment you’ve ever written. A nine-page questionnaire requires applicants to list — and if possible, provide copies of — all “posts or comments on blogs or other websites” they have ever made. Also required are “aliases” or nicknames used on those sites.

In politics, transparency is key, and it’s easier than ever to find out what someone wrote on a newsgroup back in 1995.  We sometimes forget that blogs and microblogging are permanent records of our reputation, and need to be treated with care.  Hats off to the Obama administration for understanding this.

[via: Bulldog Reporter]

2 Responses to “Your blog may have ruined your political career”
  1. MartinEdic 18 November 2008 at 11:53 am #

    As I've mentioned before, services like ours are collecting and keeping everything publicly available in social media including things like ill-conceived Twitter Tweets that the user has belatedly deleted- guess what, they're still out there in our social media warehouse.
    This is public discourse folks. Unless you have to register and login, you're out there and what you say can come back to haunt you. Look at the Obama vetting process- hundreds of questions, background checks and social media searches.
    Even as a regular Joe or Jane, if you choose to participate in social media you are now a public figure.

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