Good point, Mary. I'm starting to see a potential Twitter analytics business model. A "background check tool"—send in a Twitter username, an app pulls in tweets for a certain time period, and then does content analysis. I bet that's something HR departments would pay for. A Facebook app would be nice too, but the user would likely have to give permissions, since public FB profiles are less common.

@syedzunair: What I meant was that there may be things on your social media profile which are difficult to verify. For instance, Linked-In allows you endorse people and recommend them. Even if the person might have worked under the claimed capacity, it's difficult to see how true that endorsement and recommendation is. It can easily be something exaggerated.

Yes, you can ask for as many reference letters as you like, but I sometimes wonder what the point is.  Do people write bad references?  Sometimes, I suppose, but not very often.

Taimur: 

It is also possible using the traditional way. People can put up work experience even if they haven't worked actually. Usually what potential employers do at most is to call or drop an email to the focal person you mention in your application. If you are on good personal terms they may actually endorse you without you ever having worked for them. 

"What if friends give false endorsements on LinkedIn without having worked with someone applying for a job?"

That's one of the risks of evaluating someone through social media. There might be fake or exaggerated information that's difficult to trace and might mislead the employer. 

It would be interesting if someone comes with a do's and dont's checklist that a person can follow to assess if his/her social media profile is appropriate and acceptable. This might also contain tips for making it seem more attractive just like a guide to preparing a better resume. This might be of use to people applying for jobs where they think the employer will evaluate them on their social media profile. 

"..it could be easy to lose sight of what's appropriate behavior in the eyes of a recruiter or HR professional."

@Joanne: I think what's appropriate and acceptable differs greatly from the circumstances the person is in. Something that's totally appropriate amongst friends might not be so in a professional gathering. You cannot judge a person from a social media activity without considering the context or the background.

This seems to put recruitment on a par with visiting dating sites.

Ariella - that's what is at the center of this. Yes the financial and employment and drug tests are socially acceptable but the social media test? Sure it's in the public domain but still how can this be used against (or even for) you? That's the question that always gets raised.

I agree - pretty good examples of "out there" stuff cited in the post. Are HR or recruiters able to respond directly "About that post regarding the elephants and the circus, could you explain that to me?"