Do you think it’s ridiculous that some jobs ask you for your facebook password and/or just look you up on facebook?

Asking for passwords is against the Facebook Terms of Service and is borderline illegal, so any employer who demands it should not only be avoided but also reported to Facebook.

Searching for people on Facebook under such circumstances is not unethical. The solution to that one is don’t post anything publically that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see.

Facebook is what you make of using it. For some people it’s for personal connections with family, others it’s to connect with friends, others it’s to network, and others it’s to market their products and branding from major companies to small local bands.There is no one thing it should be about.

It is against Facebook’s TOS to share your password with anyone, and it’s illegal in some states (and proposed to be in others) for any employer to demand access to social media.

If a potential employer were to ask me for that information, it would not be someone I would want to work for.

I thought that was an urban legend.

I’ve never heard of this happening to anyone I know. If it happened to me I would say I don’t have an account. How can an employer prove that you have an account if your account is private? I’m amazed at the amount of people who have their account set for public viewing. If you aren’t trying to promote a business or entertainment career, there’s no reason to have your account public. It’s just asking for all sorts of problems if you do.

The only reason that I can imagine a company / interviewer asking for a Facebook password prior to offering employment is… a test to see if the interviewee would be subject to social engineering and on that basis a security risk to the company.

I have heard of that happening and I think it is totally unreasonable, but hey, it’s a buyer’s market now. Some people have alternate facebook accounts for just this reason. Personally speaking, I have nothing to hide, but I think my family life and friends are my private life and no employer has the right to ask me for this information. I would just say NO!!!!

That’s been made illegal in California for a potential employer to ask.

Reason number 87 why I don’t have a Facebook account – but if you do… just follow @jonsblond‘s advice. Good common sense.

I heard it happens but it never happened to anybody that I know. I do think it’s ridiculous but I can see why they would do it – to take advantage of someone who is desperate for a job and to look at their private stuff to see if they do drugs, whatever. I would not give my password to anybody and like someone above said, who would want to work for an employer like that, anyway?

I have a friend who got a follow up call from a potential employer to ask how he is listed on Facebook. He was not asked for his password. The idea blows me away. I had never considered that as a possibility.

I’ve never needed a job bad enough to put up with a request like that (but I also don’t put anything out on the internet that I care about being seen).

As an employer, I would never look at someone’s facebook account. I did, however, recently receive a “message” on the company page from an applicant saying he was cleaning up his “likes” and that was why he was “unliking” our page. Honestly, it was kind of a stupid move. I went from having no thought whatsoever about any applicants FB account to wondering 1) what was so bad on his that he felt he had to avoid me seeing it and 2) why he was foolish enough to bring it to my attention.

I heard that some legislators are looking into passing laws to make this illegal. It is ridiculous, of course. Anyone who gives up their password is a spineless fool. Any employer that asks is going to not see a real Facebook, I would presume.

It is ridiculous to ask for a password, and as @downtide mentioned, against the Facebook TOS.

Of course, my response to such a request might be “Can I have yours?”

But then, I’m not into the whole “My employer owns me” thing.

I do think it is ridiculous and I wouldn’t give them my password. I would log in myself and let them see my page as I don’t feel I have anything to hide but I would probably be less inclined to accept the job if it was offered to me.

I am in a union and of course they have a fb page. I eventually liked them so that I could be more involved or at last keep abreast of the information.

Of course I edited my fb prior to and now I post so rarely that other people probably post on my page more then I do.