Obama using social networks to vet White House team
Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are a double-edged sword. They provide us all with the chance to keep in touch with our friends and let people know what we’re up to by way of personal messages, friend updates and photos. But what if a potential employer uses this information against you? And what if that employer just happens to be President-elect Barack Obama?
Barack Obama is no stranger to either the Internet or social networks. In fact, there is one school of thought that suggests Obama owes his 2008 Presidential election win to the Internet thanks to his campaign using sites such as YouTube and Twitter to spread the message to ordinary voters.
Obama also has his own social network which started out in order to gain grassroots support but has now evolved to be a direct link to Obama’s Presidency, with people belonging to the network made to feel empowered by being part of something of that magnitude.
But Obama’s use of social networking and Web 2.0 sites is changing now that his focus has shifted from getting elected to running the country. He’s already dropped Twitter, and his White House team is now using Facebook and other Internet sites to vet potential applicants for his administration.
According to an article in The New York Times, a seven-page questionnaire is part of the application pack sent to all candidates for high-ranking or cabinet positions in the White House. There are reportedly 63 queries made in to each candidates personal life, including information about spouses and adult children.
But potentially the most interesting set of questions relates to a candidate’s presence on the Web. Every email and blog post that could potentially cause President Obama a problem in the future has to be detailed, as well as links to accounts on social networks such as Facebook. There is also a request for a list of all aliases, handles, or nicknames used on the Internet.
The White House is certainly not the first employer to use Facebook to check up on an employee but the wide breadth of information required means Obama and his team are leaving no stone unturned in trying to prevent hiring the wrong people for the administration. The only question really is whether this process delves a little too deeply in to what should really be people’s private lives?
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