If you are active in social networking and currently looking for a job, then you will do well to pay attention to this article. According to a survey from CareerBuilder, 45 percent of employers in the United States look up potential hires on a social networking site before arriving at a decision. 

At the moment, Facebook proved to be the most popular site to research job candidates, though LinkedIn and MySpace are also used by 26 percent and 21 percent of employers respectively. Indeed, 11 percent actually read the blogs of their candidates, while another seven percent went as far as following on Twitter.

A third of the survey respondents came across information that changed their minds about going ahead with the hire. The problem areas appear to be "provocative or inappropriate photographs," though postings that illustrate poor communication and badmouthing of previous employers and colleagues also played a part, as did discriminatory remarks.

Some might argue that the personal lives of workers should be left private, and that it is not fair for them to be penalized based on their social networking activity. What do you think of this practice? 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Ars Technica

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