Social media screening is an essential tool for employers and recruiters to learn more about how someone presents themselves online.
Also useful for identifying red flag behaviours that you might not want to introduce into a workplace culture, social media screening for employment is becoming far more commonplace and considered by many organisations to be standard practice in recruitment.
In this article we’ll look at tips for conducting social media checks, social media screening meaning and helpful social media screening tools to get you started with performing this kind of research. We’ll cover:
What is social media screening?
Social media background screening, or simply social media screening, is the process of researching a person’s social media activity online. During the process, the researcher may look at the profiles, posts, comments and interactions on the individual’s social accounts, including Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook and TikTok.
Social media screening in employment is useful for assessing a candidate’s suitability for a role or work culture, and can also identify potential red flags, such as negative behaviours such as online bullying, harassment, discrimination, racism, nudity, illegal activity, or excessive bad language.
Social media screening tools may be used by recruiters, HR or specialised researchers to gain a clearer picture of a person’s online persona, including how they present themselves and interact with others.
What does a social media check include?
During the social media screening process, the person conducting the screening will use either manual research methods like Googling the person, or use social media screening tools like YOONO to speed up the process and/or provide more comprehensive or relevant information.
What’s included in a social media check?
The resulting report will present some of the most common themes that appeared during the research, and include insights about the person’s online behaviour, how they communicate online, and assessments about their personality. A screening check report might also flag up particular incidents of content that feature negative themes or behaviours that an employer should be aware of.
Is social media screening legal in the UK?
The short answer is yes, social media screening is legal in the UK if they are conducted lawfully and in the correct way. The risk of social media screening is that an employer may stumble upon protected information, which could violate the Equality Act 2010, so social media screening checks have to be conducted with controls in place.
It is always best to inform candidates at an early stage that you are screening them, and you must have a legal basis for conducting a social media check. You cannot use discriminatory information, such as a candidate’s age, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, during the hiring process. If a candidate can prove discrimination, you could face legal action as an employer.
If you are sure that the above controls will be taken into consideration and acted upon, you can perform a social media screening check on a person. Keep in mind that social media screening should be used as an essential tool for ensuring someone is suitable for a role, and is not used simply as a tool of curiosity.
What are some social media screening pros and cons?
Social media screening in recruitment has many advantages. By conducting a social media check you are able to:
Gain a clearer picture of how the person presents themselves socially and professionally, how active they are online and the sort of content they create and engage with.
Makes you aware about any undesirable behaviours that you wouldn’t want to introduce into a work culture.
Gives you an early-stage idea about whether the person would be suitable for a role, before you require later post-consent background checks or a full reputation audit.
Social media screening can also present disadvantages for both the person being screened and the person or business performing the screen, which are worth being aware of.
There is growing evidence that social media screening checks are impacting on the hireability of prospective candidates, and may introduce bias into the recruitment process. If a social media screening check is not conducted with proper checks in place, it’s also possible that the researcher will stumble across protected information, introducing bias or, even worse, discrimination into the hiring process.
For employers, recruiters or businesses doing the background research, the principle disadvantage is that the employee could pursue a legal case if they feel that discrimination was present in the decision not to hire them. The best way of avoiding this is to be transparent and upfront with the candidate, and to always ensure that correct controls are put in place when conducting a screening test.
What are the best social media screening tools?
How do you do a screening check?
Background screening used to involve time-intensive manual research, which could take days, weeks or even months to accomplish.
Today, there are more tech-forward social media screening tools available that can help recruitment agencies and businesses to save research time and expense. Here are a couple of the best social media screening tool free options:
Best for general social media monitoring: Agorapulse
Create an account for free. Agorapulse isn’t technically a social media screening tool, but you can use this social media management tool for that purpose too.
The tool allows you to monitor how people are interacting with an individual or brand, and what they are saying about them, giving you insights into the conversations surrounding a particular social media account.
Best for fast social media screening: YOONO
Create an account for free. YOONO is a cutting-edge background screening tool powered by AI search technology. Simply type in the name of the person, drop in a CV if you have it, and this powerful online software will reveal what they are sharing on their social media accounts, plus additional interesting information too.
Best for when you want to quickly assess someone’s social media presence early on in the hiring process.
Conclusion: Will Social Media Screening be Useful for Your Business?
Although not an essential part of background research, social media screening is becoming more commonplace in hiring practice, especially as individuals share more about themselves online.
Social media screening needs to be conducted in the right way, with the right controls in place, and shouldn’t be seen as something to use simply to be nosey! Rather, social media screening should be used responsibly as a tool for ensuring the person is going to be right cultural fit for your business, as well as a useful way for identifying any red flags that might not otherwise be obvious at interview stage.
By using a social media screening tool like YOONO, you can get straight to the heart of the matter, as the smart search technology is able to show you the most relevant information from social media, cutting through the fluff to the hard facts. Why not try YOONO’s search today, and see if you can gain useful, data-backed insights into the people you are hiring?
