2008 Woodie Awards
Public search feature worries some students
Makes profile picture available through Google
By Aaron Levinger
When Emily Ruffatto, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, logged onto Facebook, she received a notification about a new public search engine feature. After reading it, she immediately turned it off.
"I disabled the feature because I don't want to risk anything that would hinder my career search," she said.
Earlier this fall, Facebook added a new search option that allows people to search for Facebook profiles through Google and other search engines. This means if someone searches for an individual on Google, it's possible that person's Facebook page may come up as a link.
Malorie Lucich, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said people are making judgments about this new feature before they know what it is.
"We are making public search listings available to give people who are not currently registered on Facebook the opportunity to discover their friends on the site," she said in an e-mail. "A public search listing only shows the name and profile picture. Users can choose not to make this listing available to people who are not friends on Facebook."
Many students said they have mixed feelings about the new feature. Jake Spielbauer, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he turned the feature off.
"It was an invasion of my privacy," he said.
Others like Jackson Dingeman, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, aren't bothered by the feature and welcome it.
"I see no problem with it because you can only see my profile picture," Dingeman said. "Plus, it allows friends who aren't on Facebook to come in contact with me on the Internet."
But Facebook can play a larger role than just connecting one student with his friends.
Sheena Carey, College of Communication internship director, said Facebook is starting to become very important in job searches.
She said many students have lost jobs because of information and inappropriate pictures found on Facebook.
Carey said she suggests students turn this feature off and clean up their Facebook pages if they are serious about a job search.
"I disabled the feature because I don't want to risk anything that would hinder my career search," she said.
Earlier this fall, Facebook added a new search option that allows people to search for Facebook profiles through Google and other search engines. This means if someone searches for an individual on Google, it's possible that person's Facebook page may come up as a link.
Malorie Lucich, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said people are making judgments about this new feature before they know what it is.
"We are making public search listings available to give people who are not currently registered on Facebook the opportunity to discover their friends on the site," she said in an e-mail. "A public search listing only shows the name and profile picture. Users can choose not to make this listing available to people who are not friends on Facebook."
Many students said they have mixed feelings about the new feature. Jake Spielbauer, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he turned the feature off.
"It was an invasion of my privacy," he said.
Others like Jackson Dingeman, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, aren't bothered by the feature and welcome it.
"I see no problem with it because you can only see my profile picture," Dingeman said. "Plus, it allows friends who aren't on Facebook to come in contact with me on the Internet."
But Facebook can play a larger role than just connecting one student with his friends.
Sheena Carey, College of Communication internship director, said Facebook is starting to become very important in job searches.
She said many students have lost jobs because of information and inappropriate pictures found on Facebook.
Carey said she suggests students turn this feature off and clean up their Facebook pages if they are serious about a job search.
Published: 9/27/07 Section: News
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