Social Sweepster: In the past, job searching required preparing for interviews and crafting a good resume - however, in the age of social media, there is a new "pillar" in the whole process: taking care of one's social media profile, as a candidate can be "helped" or even "exposed" by it.
The company Social Sweepster specializes in exactly this: examining and "cleaning" a user's Facebook and Twitter pages of photos and posts that might have discouraged a potential employer from offering a job to the candidate. As reported in a relevant NY Times article, the company was founded by Tom McGrath, a graduate of Indiana University, and its "advantage" over other similar firms is that it looks not only for "dreaded" text, but also for photos.
Two other companies with a similar purpose are SimpleWash, which investigates Facebook and Twitter accounts for “dangerous” keywords, and Socially Clean, which analyzes Facebook profiles and the posts made by friends on their profiles. However, while both companies can “read” the text in photos, they do not have the ability to analyze the content of the images themselves. According to McGrath, identifying potentially “uncomfortable” photos that are linked to a user’s online identity would be easier if computers took over the job.
If the user gives Social Sweepster access to their Facebook or Twitter account, it begins to "scan" the timeline all the way back to 2005. Its filters can identify photos with objects that may be potentially "dangerous", as they are associated with particular...situations, such as cans or beer bottles, etc. The user can then manage the suggested photos as they wish.
The service is currently in beta, and according to McGrath, the company will allow users to scan for free for a few months and charge for longer periods of time.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
