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According to some reports as many as 50% of employers and 75% of job recruiters concerned about alcohol/drug use, violence, and similar problems check out potential employees on the web.

Many employers argue that due diligence requires they look up Internet profiles of all job candidates. Researching students is fairly typical among high-tech employers.[5] However, some employers feel the information on social networking sites is of a personal or artistic nature and not appropriate for consideration in determining employment. Would you ask about race, sexual orientation, sexual partners, past relationships, religion, body type, favorite book or movie, or ask to see photo albums in a job interview? Perhaps not, but you can glean this information from a web site. If it's publicly available information should you use it?

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) more than half of all employers use some kind of online screening technology including social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace.

Career advisors caution students to be discrete about the information they put on the web. Young people may know that they are just showing off and not realize that an employer will take the posting seriously or question their judgment. Most students simply do not understand that their web postings can hurt their future.

During the past few months, however, I've been seeing these acronyms showing up in interoffice emails with increasing frequency.

The House of Representatives held hearings in July 2006 regarding social networking websites. Such sites are new enough that there is not a body of case law regarding their use. Proposed legislation (H.R. 5319) addresses the social networking sites in terms of child protection rather than employment discrimination.

It behooves the law librarian to become familiar with and comfortable using these sites. How you use them is, of course, your responsibility.