Aside from the fact that many people find the frequent, often unannounced changes to be annoying, the many changes Facebook keeps rolling out can also impact your career prospects. With each new change comes a reminder that you must be vigilant in protecting what information is shared and how. To be fair, most of the changes implemented recently have given the user more control over their information, but with every change you must understand what has changed and how you need to alter your profile and settings to best address this.
While I often remind students about the damage a poorly chosen photo or post can cause to their employment prospects, there is a growing possiblity that the most recent changes can make it a highly positive career tool as well. I have strongly advocated for years the idea that people maintain Facebook for personal relationships and LinkedIn for professional relationships. This recent article in the Harvard Business Review points out that, with the emergence of Facebook's new Timeline feature, we may be on the verge of Facebook becoming a legitimate tool for personal branding at the professional level as the customization of who sees what becomes more and more refined.
The danger, of course, is that with each new level of customization comes one more chance you will miss a setting somewhere and accidentally show your new boss that picture of you that you thought was only going to your friends. When it comes to your career and Facebook, remember the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson: "The price of Facebooking is eternal vigilance".
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