Why do we tell PNMs to clean up their Facebook?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Not exactly. Even though it's 9:30 PM, I'm still *technically* an employee of my company.

If you choose to drink yourself silly whenever you're not at work, as long as you don't show up drunk, they can't fire you for it. You can also be on your best behavior at work but do what you want when you're home (unless they have random drug screens). It's not the same. I'd rather know that a young woman is going to be a risk management issue before we give her a bid.

[knight_shadow]

I'm sure that, ideally, a company would want to know if its employees participated in risky activities when they're not doing company business. The fact that no one has any issues with keeping things "hidden" from your job is fascinating.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I'm sure that, ideally, a company would want to know if its employees participated in risky activities when they're not doing company business. The fact that no one has any issues with keeping things "hidden" from your job is fascinating.

If you read what I wrote, I said that I thought that people with good judgment kept those things hidden. I'm not saying it isn't prudent to keep your social media profile pretty clean. I'm saying that it makes it easier for us to avoid issues/problems if we don't tell them.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Perhaps we'd have fewer issues with members posting stupid things on Facebook, allowing themselves to have pics taken of them while holding drinks when they are under 21, etc. if we only gave bids to young women who were smart enough to keep their social media posts clean in the first place. It's called good judgment. As the parent of an 11th grader and a 9th grader, I can say that very few of the young people's Facebook pages that I see have anything inappropriate on them. Those are the young people I'd want to be joining our GLOs.

I hate to be a cynic, but they're the minority.

You can keep your FB clean as a whistle and then your dumbass friend tags one unflattering pic of you, and if you don't get to it before someone else sees it, you're toast. (And no, disallowing your friends from tagging you is NOT an option. That's pretty much like telling your friends to their faces that they're dumbasses. Not many 18 year olds will do that.)

Chapters dealing with hypercompetitive rushes are looking for ANY reason to cut the zillion girls they need to cut. Not in a malicious way, but in a "holy crap we have to get this done before we can sleep" way. A picture with a solo cup/the wrong guy/hair in rollers can be enough to do that.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AGDee

If you read what I wrote, I said that I thought that people with good judgment kept those things hidden. I'm not saying it isn't prudent to keep your social media profile pretty clean. I'm saying that it makes it easier for us to avoid issues/problems if we don't tell them.

I apologize -- I only focused on the line that I quoted.

Like Gusteau said earlier and like you reiterated, "keep your online presence clean" is good advice. However -- I read the rest of your reply as "If you're smart enough to trick us into thinking you're an angel, you deserve a bid from us." That seems flawed.

For clarification: When you say 'risk management issue,' do you mean in general or specifically in the digital space? That may be why I'm not getting the full message you're trying to convey.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I apologize -- I only focused on the line that I quoted.

Common message board flaw.

[MaggieXi]

I think there is a difference in telling PNMs to keep their facebooks clean and secure because it's just good sense and others telling PNMs "OMG, detag every picture you've ever been in if there is a single solo cup somewhere in the background and don't friend any sorority women before recruitment because they are only friending you to stalk you!!!!" (because this is truly how it comes across from some GCers).

Sure people in general should not be putting up content that they are not willing to be judged on. But I think that some PNMs get scared and detag every picture of a family members wedding because her uncle in the background is holding a beer bottle.

As for the friending issue, you can either be the PNM who rejects every sorority women's fb friendship request and be judged for that and miss out on potentially getting to know sorority women before recruitment (which we stress is a good thing) or you can accept those requests and just keep your page clean - which is good common sense.

[Bamababe]

I think this is a very interesting point. Personally, I cleaned up my facebook before going through rush because even though I did not drink in high school, I would get photographed at parties where red solo cups were present, and having those pictures on my profile could have given sororities an incorrect impression of me.

I also agree with the comment about only being photographed when out with friends. Although I spent a good amount of time studying for AP classes and volunteering with my church in the afternoons, those aren't exactly activities where a camera would be present. The only photographic documentation of my life was of a couple of hours on Friday and Saturday nights.

That being said, I still think that it is important to advise PNMs to clean their facebooks because it can tell you something about the individual. The PNM's opinion of what is a "clean facebook" can tell you a lot about her personal life. If she leaves up pictures of her and her friends dancing on tables (but no cups in sight!) that paints a different picture than the girl that only leaves up posed prom pictures. After the girl is in the sorority, discretion is important, since she represents that organization, and already knowing what sort of stuff is acceptable on a public profile is helpful.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

As for the friending issue, you can either be the PNM who rejects every sorority women's fb friendship request and be judged for that and miss out on potentially getting to know sorority women before recruitment (which we stress is a good thing) or you can accept those requests and just keep your page clean - which is good common sense.

I thought it was against contact rules for sorority women at a school having rush in August to friend rushees now.

Also, IMO, you shouldn't friend ANYONE you don't know/haven't met personally just because their profile says they go to your college. As I said before, they can be creepy stalkers. If you go to a school with deferred rush, go out and MEET sorority women, and THEN friend them/accept their FRs.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I think the real issue here is what to do about PNM's that put up too many pictures of themselves with duckface.

[carnation]

We immediately exclude them from ever being Greek. Or rescind their college admissions.

[Splash]

Originally Posted by AGDee

If you choose to drink yourself silly whenever you're not at work, as long as you don't show up drunk, they can't fire you for it. You can also be on your best behavior at work but do what you want when you're home (unless they have random drug screens). It's not the same. I'd rather know that a young woman is going to be a risk management issue before we give her a bid.

When I'm at work, some of my more familiar clients have come up to me and said "weren't you at so-and-so yesterday?" It has never been anything scandalous, strictly locational, but I can imagine if I was being a drunken smutbag, it would reflect poorly on my company.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Splash

When I'm at work, some of my more familiar clients have come up to me and said "weren't you at so-and-so yesterday?" It has never been anything scandalous, strictly locational, but I can imagine if I was being a drunken smutbag, it would reflect poorly on my company.

Well, if they know this, then they were there too, weren't they? So what's the problem/point?

You apparently have not been in the corporate world long and are way underestimating the numbers of gainfully employed, higher-up drunken smutbags.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

For clarification: When you say 'risk management issue,' do you mean in general or specifically in the digital space? That may be why I'm not getting the full message you're trying to convey.

In all honesty, almost every time a chapter is caught doing something against risk management policies these days, it is because someone posted it on Facebook or another social media site. The other times, it is usually because someone had to go to the hospital. 9 times out of 10, if someone hadn't posted it online, nobody would have known/gotten in trouble. That's the perspective I'm coming from.

Ironically enough, the only reason I ever came to greekchat was because a chapter was asking what to do about someone who posted things here that were inappropriate and they wanted me to read the posts. I got hooked on this darn board in the process...lol. That was the first time I was involved in an Internet posting issue, but it was just the beginning of a long line of social media issues.

It reminds me of young people who cuss like sailors no matter where they are. They don't have enough sense to know that how they talk around friends is not how they should be talking in other situations. It was usually the boys I worked with in adolescent psych who would do that back in the day and my standard feedback to them was "Locker Room Talk, not Occupational Therapy talk!" I understand that teenagers swear. I understand that a lot of teenagers party.

Having the sense to be discrete is an important life skill, not for recruitment, but for life.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AGDee

In all honesty, almost every time a chapter is caught doing something against risk management policies these days, it is because someone posted it on Facebook or another social media site. The other times, it is usually because someone had to go to the hospital. 9 times out of 10, if someone hadn't posted it online, nobody would have known/gotten in trouble. That's the perspective I'm coming from.

OK, that makes more sense.

I was reading it as "We can determine whether or not you will haze our new members / act a drunken mess / fail out of classes / whatever based on your SM profiles." Plus, I was tired when all of this was posted lol