Privacy and Social Media: Does Your Boss Have the Right to See Your Facebook Page?

Like smartphones, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest weren’t around 10 years ago. Instant messaging and email allowed you to contact friends and family, but the ability to share massive amounts of information about yourself wasn’t as readily available.

All of this leads to significant privacy concerns. While Facebook started off as a small site restricted to networks of college students, now anyone can sign up and look at people’s profiles, even if they are not “friends” with that person. And if that person hasn’t set up their privacy restrictions, that random person looking at their profile could learn a tremendous amount of information that you maybe wouldn’t want shared with non-friends.

Parents of children who use Facebook need to take even greater care. 

While Facebook — and other social networks — have received a great deal of scrutiny for various problems with privacy, most social networks now have extensive privacy controls, with limits on what people can see when they visit your profile. Be sure to go over your privacy settings and ensure that what you’re posting is only viewable by people you want to view it (friends, family etc.). In addition, use intricate passwords that aren’t easily guessed. Use capital letters, numbers, symbols and so on. Don’t use things like your mother’s maiden name or your phone number.

Be sure to put some thought into what you post on your social networks as well. Before you post something, ask yourself, “Would I be ok if the world saw this?” Maybe you don’t need to post your phone number on Facebook. Inappropriate photos from a party might not belong on a social network. While some might think these rules limit the fun of social networks, they are important to protect your privacy.

Along with that, many employers take at least a cursory glance at the social networking profiles of potential hires. Some are even taking it a step further and asking potential hires for their Facebook usernames and passwords. In response, several states, including California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maryland, have introduced legislation to prohibit requiring social network passwords as a condition of employment. A bipartisan bill was introduced in Minnesota in March, but no action was taken on it.

What do you think? Should employers be able to demand that current and prospective employees provide their passwords for their personal accounts on sites like Facebook and Twitter? Let me know either by posting below, taking my survey at www.facebook.com/State.Rep.Joe.Atkins, emailing me at Rep.Joe.Atkins@house.mn, or by giving me a call at the Capitol at 296-4192.