“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Justine Sacco, senior director of corporate communications at InterActiveCorp, tweeted this statement. After Sacco touched down from Cape Town international, nasty comments were arrowed at her, criticising Sacco for her racist tweet. The story ended with one Twitter user saying, “your tweet lives on forever.” (Jon Ronson, 2015). Observing such narrative, is it still possible for Sacco to create her own authentic digital profile? With such a blemish on her digital profile, is she still able to gain acceptance from her future employers?
With the rapidly changing digital world, the flexibility in social sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and so on, assist many individuals in building the ultimate social media resume (Dan Schawbel,2009). The individuals can decide how much and what they want to say, which platforms they want to express (Peter Bowes,2013). In this case, they can choose to avoid disclosing certain unfavourable information to retain good impressions from the viewers. As such, the authenticity of digital profiles would be questionable and thus authentic digital profiles cannot be developed.
In addition, with the increasing presence of our digital footprints, our personal information in the social sites can be easily accessible by others. Digital footprints refer to the trails we left by one’s interactions within a digital environment (Southampton Careers service,2012) Through these footprints, organisations can discover our digital professional profiles quickly, increasing the possibility of recruitment. Nonetheless, employers also take into account of applicants’ social profiles while gathering their information (10 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 445,2007-2008) Subsequently, employers may discover unfavourable behaviours about the applicants. Studies reveal that 63% of employers who explore candidates’ social networking profile have rejected candidates based on their unusual behaviours (Davis,2006). Therefore, digital footprints actually backfires the possibility of initiating digital professional profile, albeit it is genuine.
(Credits: Chalkboards & Carpools)
On the other hand, Blogging demonstrates the knowledge, abilities and skills of an individual. if the content of one’s blogposts resonates with potential careers, this demonstrates one’s cognitive level through the capacity in engaging critically with crucial matters surrounding one’s field. Blogging also exhibits one’s dedication towards the tasks involved, creativity and written communication skills (Admin,2014). Moreover, through Jobvite, individuals are able to identify what employers are seeking for (Jobvite,2014) and thus can particularly display relevant attributes in their posts. Since the applicants’ attributes can be revealed directly through the contents in the posts, the originality of the digital professional profile can be created.
In conclusion, the flexibility of social sites and the prevalence of social recruiting greatly outweigh the blogging approach. As such, the development of authentic digital profile is considered unpromising. (440 words)
References:
Southampton Careers service,2012
10 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 445,2007-2008
Jim 
Hi Jef,
Thanks for your comments! I did mention that social sites, such as LinkedIn, are used by individuals to build resume and I contended the fact that ‘individuals can choose how much, what they want to say and which platforms they want to express’ would mean that those individuals can choose not to reveal certain unfavourable information about them. As such, the authenticity of digital professional profile is affected and thus cannot be developed. Basically, the method used is flawed and thus cannot help to develop authentic digital professional profile.
I certainly agree with you that looking through all the blogposts is time consuming and not so effective. Perhaps, one of the possibilities would be to deploy the blogposts in an one-to-one interview session.
Jim
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Greetings Jim,
I enjoyed reading your blogpost on digital footprints and agree that posting information onto the Internet is an irreversible action. Many people in the world are living examples as they lost their jobs and ruined their reputation because of silly comments/posts made.
However, you did not really mention and describe the ways to develop an authentic digital professional profile. For example, successfully creating online resumes and CVs for prospective employers to view and select and also explaining more about the various Social Media platforms and networks that are useful in landing the individual the respective jobs.
I agree with you that one technique to promote oneself is by blogging but HR personnel have loads of potential candidates to scan through and they cannot possibly look through all the blogposts written by all of them individually as taking a look at their online resumes is a more effective way to hire.
-Jef Tan Yi Yang
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