What is Social Media Background Screening?

Social media background screening is the process by which companies analyze the social media activity of potential employees. If it sounds dirty, that's because it could be. However, procedures are taken to ensure neutrality when information from such checks filters in. For one, companies use the screening results at the tail end of the hiring process when skills, experience, and other critical elements of effectiveness have been factored in.

Yes. However, individual hiring managers do not carry out these social media checks themselves. The reason for this is likely exposure to protected class information (which could constitute grounds for discrimination lawsuits) such as sex, marital status, race, sexual orientation, etc. As such, this aspect of corporate due diligence is outsourced to third-party companies that organize screening reports. Furthermore, the screening procedure has to be compliant with the law. In other words, screening companies must:

1. Receive permission to conduct the screening

2. Focus only on relevant business information and remove protected class information from results

3. Use legal and ethical means to obtain information

4. Review the right candidate/employee

1. Potentially violent content (self-harm, threats, violent images, etc.)

2. Potentially illegal content (drugs, etc.)

3. Sexually explicit content (explicit images and text, etc.)

4. Racist or intolerant content (bullying, toxic language, hate speech, etc.)

1. It can help determine the personality types and traits of employees/candidates

2. It can be a helpful tool in assessing the cultural fit of a potential employee

3. It can provide insight into the people skills of employees/candidates