By the time this year’s college graduates grab their diplomas, they’ll likely have heard countless warnings about what not to post on social media.
But in case they never listened—and are only just starting to grasp what four years of keg stands and Solo cups might do to their employment prospects—Social Sweepster wants to help. The service goes through Facebook and Twitter accounts to find photos and posts that might make hiring managers think twice, the New York Times reports.
Similar services include SimpleWash, which searches profiles for “undesirable content” based on certain keywords, and Socially Clean, which identifies regrettable Facebook posts on both users’ profiles and those left on their friends’ profiles.
But Social Sweepster, founded by a 2013 graduate of Indiana University, has an emphasis on scanning images, looking through postings from as far back as 2005 to identify objects like beer cans and red Solo cups. Once those are found, users have options to untag, delete or ask a friend to remove the offending photos.
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The image identification technology isn’t perfect yet, but founder Tom McGrath believes young job seekers, wanting to be safe rather than sorry, will still want to pay for the service, which is currently in beta.
“If you spent all this money on a college education and you’ll spend $5 on a coffee, why not prevent the slightest chance that a potential employer will be upset?” he said.
[NYT]
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