"Guess Who's Looking at Your Facebook Page?" by Alessandra Potenza

A numerous amount of people have some sort of social media account. Whether it's Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, people post a variety of things that state facts, opinions, etc. But do these people know that what they post may cause them to miss out on opportunities? In, the article, "Guess Who's Looking at Your Facebook Page?" by Alessandra Potenza, found in Upfront magazine, the article talks about how employers and college admission officers are increasingly looking at applicants' and employees' social media accounts. If they find anything unappealing while  invading your privacy, that could determine where you go in life. These employers and college admission officer shouldn't invade any one's social media accounts then judge them based on their posts or commentary.
               
  First of all, whether you are applying for or have a job, the employer of that that job may come across posts that would compromise your position despite that the posts are your personal opinions or pictures. For example, in Findlay, Ohio, "Kirsten Kelly complained on Facebook about the small tips she'd received from customers. One happened to be a former schoolmate and a Facebook friend. When the customer saw the post, she printed it out and showed it to Kelly's managers. ' I knew that they could have yelled at me or that,' Kelly, 22, told a local TV station .' But I didn't think they could fire me for posting that." One can understand how Kelly's post might offend someone, however as an opinion on her private Facebook account, she wasn't directly disrespecting any of her customers and shouldn't have been so rashly fired. On the more statistical side, "More than 90 percent of recruiters check candidates' social media profiles, according to a Jobvite survey of thousands of U.S. companies." Clearly, this is a widespread standard and no one is the exception or has complete privacy despite privacy settings.
                 
Secondly, college applicants are scrutinized and affected quite like employees. For instance, "At Pitzer College in Claremont, California, an applicant was denied admission because of offensive comments he had posted on Facebook about one of his teachers." No matter how offensive, the student most likely had reason for the offensive comments and even if he didn't that is his own personal opinion which shouldn't change his chances, if he is still a hardworking student, on getting in to a college. Sure the comments were disrespectful, but that doesn't imply that he treats everyone in the same manner. Clearly, the post was a mistake because of his denied admission but admission officers should also be empathetic in understanding, at that age, teenagers do a lot of impulsive things. One last point is that even if these student are not quite yet adults, they still have freedom of speech.
                 
Lastly, some may say that employers and college admission officers have every right to determine some one's position with what they post to social media. For example, " most admission officers don't have time to check every candidate online. But if something in the application raises a red flag, a Google search is likely to follow." Obviously, if something is concerning, you look it up but most people act differently in different environments. Therefore, if you view a student solely in their personal life then you don't really get to see them as a student. In the case of employees, most adults understand that in work you have to have a sort of professional character and on an  adult's social media account you will only see what they are like when they don't have the pressure of working on them.