It’s no secret that for years HR professionals have been checking up on job applicants’ reputations via such social networking sites as MySpace and Facebook. Ask any hiring manager and I’m sure they’ll be able to share a story about an applicant’s questionable photos or conversations that unknowingly killed their chance of being considered.

But let’s look at the other side of the social coin… Say you’re a small business owner trying to find a new marketing or sales professional. Should an applicant’s number of followers (Twitter), friends (Facebook/MySpace), connections (LinkedIn) or the overall size of their social graph come into play as an evaluation category? Read the rest of this entry »