Will cybervetting ever be illegal?

It's an interesting topic for me to discuss in particular since I'm a graduating in June, and as many, am currently looking for full-time employment after graduation. Without taking long to cut to the chase, my answer is no, and if it does eventually become illegal, I don't see it happening anytime soon. 

I've never been one to post inappropriate statuses or upload photos that may set a bad image for me on either Facebook or Twitter but I definitely know of close friends and even family members who do. However, I have been tagged in photos that I wasn't exactly thrilled about seeing the next morning (sometimes the afternoon); depending on how much I had to drink the previous night on both Twitter and Facebook. 

No matter how funny the photo may look, I'm never happy to see it on social media networking sites I'm on, especially Twitter. I say specifically Twitter because my ultimate dream job is to be a sports broadcaster for either a professional radio station or professional sports team and in order for me to reach that goal, twitter is essential. So to say the least, I wasn't exactly thrilled when I saw a tweet of my 21st birthday that stated, "If you're not as blacked out as @JaredShlensky then you're doing something wrong." It sets a bad image for me and any future employer that wants to hire me. For the record, I gave that friend of mine an earful after they posted that.

If you don't believe me, ask any broadcast communications major on campus who is affiliated with the school's radio station, WONC, 89.1FM about how important twitter is in our field. And if you don't believe me or them, take it a whole step further and ask the general manager of WONC and broadcast communications professor on campus, John Madormo. I'm quite confident he'll agree with me. That being said, my twitter page is strictly professional and can't stand it when my close friends tweet about my social life experiences. 

Now you may be thinking, why don't you just make your Facebook page and Twitter handle settings private or have two twitter handles? That's definitely a fair question and am more than happy to answer it for you. My Facebook settings are set to private but not my twitter handle. 

This is because my tweets relate to my hopeful occupation in sports broadcasting and in order to be recognized by credible broadcasters, journalists, radio stations, newspaper publications, etc., I need my tweets to be able to be viewed by anyone; therefore making my twitter handle private is meaningless. My tweets aren't about how bad my day is going or about how upset I am with the food on campus, instead they consist of links to sports articles I've written for the school's newspaper, The Chronicle/NCClinked.com, interviews I've uploaded to sound cloud pertaining to NCC athletics, opinions I have about live sporting games, player performances, coaching strategies, broadcasters analysis, etc.  

I've also been asked, why don’t you just have two twitter handles, one strictly professional, and one pertaining to your social life? Again, another fair question, and my answer is, I don’t have any plans or interest of tweeting about my life or any inappropriate activities I may encounter down the road. Therefore I just don’t see any point of having two twitter handles, in fact, it just sounds like more work for me, something I don’t have time for, at least not right now.

My profile photo on Twitter isn't me posing with my two buddies with me at the bar last week, instead, it's me in a suit, hoping to showcase myself as a mature, intelligent and respectable human being. Now you may be wondering, what the hell do your personal experiences have anything to do with the question you proposed back in the beginning. My answer to you is well, it has everything to do with it. 

If you're going to post inappropriate pictures and say inappropriate things via social media, you need to be prepared to accept the consequences for your actions, even if that means a future employer not choosing to hire you, including me. However, I do feel that if someone posts a status about your wild 21st birthday or tags you in a picture that you personally didn't upload, then employers shouldn't be allowed to use that against you. I understand that it may not be the way employers look at it or the way current laws are laid out, but I'd argue that it's a fair assessment of what future employers should and shouldn't be allowed to use against you.