Privacy vs. Professionalism in the Digital Age

image created with Chatgpt

Imagine after an interview the interviewer asks me for my LinkedIn account so he or she can follow me and access me. I would gladly give it immediately without hesitating because, after all, that is what LinkedIn is all about. Putting your professionalism out there so you can get employed or get a gig or so you can offer your services.

But imagine the interviewer asked for my Snapchat username instead; that would seem weird and funny. If the interviewer isn't trying to strike some personal connection but is asking on behalf of the company, that would raise a flag. Why would the company be so concerned about my private social media life?

There are different forms of social media, and some are more open than others. Some social media are just meant for family and close friends, but some social media, like LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter), allow us to connect with a wide range of people we don't know and market our professionalism. That's why most celebrity social media pages are open to their fans worldwide, but most celebrities don't disclose their private messaging social apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Snapchat to anyone who isn't family or friends.

But there are different jobs out there, and some jobs require strict vetting of potential employees or contractors; in fact, it might be done to protect their potential staff, and this may require them to disclose all forms of social media, perhaps to prevent them from hacking or help them navigate the social media while representing the company.

Those kinds of jobs are rare and very sensitive. For example, the president of a country has to be careful of the social media accounts, and sometimes most of their accounts are managed and watched to prevent hacking and give advice. But even the presidency wants their privacy, and that's why they have secret phones and apps to chat with people they want to reach out to without leaking to the press. Even companies have internal chat rooms or apps they use to keep their information from leaking out to their rivals. Privacy is essential in everything.

While some companies carry out vetting in secrecy, this is done to make sure the person meets the standard they might be looking for. Social media vetting can be turned into a form of witch-hunting and discrimination against those people who have different views from the employers.

One example is the last election period in my country when a lot of people got biased and were asking companies to sack staff who decided to make their political affiliation known even when their political affiliation didn't undermine their job professionalism.

Some companies do social media vetting in secrecy, and some would tell you about it, but I feel sometimes vetting can be a waste of time because people can decide to go and scrub any data or information in their public social media about themselves that they feel their potential employers might disagree with. And sometimes people's opinions change after years, and it might not be good, especially to cancel people because of views they had many years ago and they don't have anymore.

If I am asked for my social media handles that reflect my professionalism, I will gladly give them out, but for my personal life, I might not unless the job truly requires it, and most jobs don't.

Imagine me posting a harmless joke on my WhatsApp for my old friends; the same joke can be misinterpreted by my colleagues or my boss. And this has cost a lot of people their jobs and lives. Most people block their employers on WhatsApp from seeing their status, or they decide to have two WhatsApp accounts, one for business and the other for their personal life.

Some people might say that if you truly don't have something to hide, you should be open. Of course, but sometimes in life, people who are trying to obscure the truth are the ones who seem to be more transparent because they want to create a false impression on others. A lot of people are living fake lives on social media, and that includes some celebrities.

To conclude, I believe everyone has their right to private space where they have the right to include whoever they want as long as their private space doesn't affect or degrade their professionalism. Companies can have the right to monitor their employees' professional accounts but also give training on responsible use of social media and code of conduct.