If you were at a job interview and they asked you for your FB password, would you give it to them? Do you think that employers should be able to have access to your private, personal, social networking site? Do you think that it's appropriate? Would you want to work for a company that did that?
Check out this article. Bassett withdrew his application when he was asked for his login credentials during an interview.
Job Seekers Getting Asked Facebook Passwords However, others feel it's in the company's right to look at potential applicant's FB profiles.
Answer this question before you read my thought on the matter below: What would you do?
Think about your FaceBook profile, who your friends are, what you've posted, what others have posted. Would you feel comfortable letting a potential future employer see what's on there? If you said 'no' then we know the answer to the first question. But what if you said YES? Would you give it to them, even if you knew there wouldn't be anything on there that would prevent you from getting the position? Or would you do what Bassett did?
MY THOUGHTS:
I think it's inappropriate. There are so many rules in place about what you are allowed or not allowed to ask in an interview (or information you are allowed to use or not use) in terms of making a hiring decision. I just don't see how anything that can be retrieved from a FB profile can be related to "job performance." If you can't prove that it predicts job performance, than you shouldn't be using it. Period. Just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's public information available to future employers. That's why there is a password! What people do with their friends and families on their own time has nothing to do with work performance.
During my employment at a government agency where we conducted extensive background checks on potential employees who would be carrying guns, we looked into whether or not we should use FB or MySpace or any other public networking site as part of our background check. We decided, that even if their FB profiles were public (not requiring a password) we would not look at that information. There just wasn't enough data to back up what any of it meant. You find a photo of someone holding a beer at a Halloween party...so what?
Look at their resume, assess them, interview them, assess them some more if you have to, check references, and then decide. Leave FB out of it.