The warnings are now proving to be very wise especially with the recent results from the Harris Interactive survey (survey was commissioned by CareerBuilder.com), which showed that out of 2,667 HR professionals 45% said that they check prospective candidates social media accounts before hiring (or not hiring) them. An additional 11% indicated their intent to also start using social media sites as part of their screening process.

With such widespread use of social media sites as a step in the screening process it would be simply stupid to not start cleaning up your social media accounts if you have dirty laundry aired online or simply have an account that does not reflect the impression you want to make on prospective employers and/or clients.

Some of the things you can start checking would include:

Your contacts – As the saying goes “ Show me who your friends are and I will show you who you are.” Having too many “unsavoury” friends might reflect badly on you.
Your old posts – If old stuff where you will look unprofessional (to say the least) are still up for everybody to see them delete them. This includes blog posts.
Your account settings – If you don’t want to take anything down just make sure you set your account to private so that everything will only be for your friend’s eyes only. However, remember that accounts can be hacked and disgruntled friends might leak out posts.

Facebook is perhaps the best site to place ads right now since it is a hot place to which has grown out of proportion. Catering towards social networking and offering exposure for programmers and of course advertisers, businesses that are looking for good traffic would be wise to place their money on Facebook for now.

But for how long? That is perhaps something that many would be checking out. Basing it on data gathered on Facebook’s performance, it is here to stay for a couple of years. Friendster was once in the same vote, but once the other social networks started to take shape, everyone will agree that Friendster is slowly dying and has been relegated to catch-up.

What made Facebook different? Well similar to any successful company in the initial stages, establishing and following your ideal setup and purpose is the key towards success. Mark Zuckerberg made this clear that he wants to focus first on idealism before profits.

Such is a formula for success and apparently it is paying off. A change in philosophy may be a gamble but for now, Zuckerberg should consider, why change a winning formula if it works?

“For us that’s helping people connect with people and things that they care about. You are better off focusing on those things and helping to build an eco-system around you for all the other stuff. No one can do everything.”

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