Social Media affecting SOF Career?

[Philopalope]

So I came across a thread from professional soldiers that essentially instructed every SOF wanna-be to delete their social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as you would be less likely (if at all) to be chosen for "covert or clandestine" missions. I'm sure the advice still applies but the post is a bit dated so I'm curious on how far it extends. I did some searching on SS and only found this thread pertaining to social media and OPSEC / PERSEC. (There were a couple others but they were very short threads and didn't delve very deep). The only other mentions I could find were on threads not pertaining to this topic.

Social Media and Your Security Clearance

One of the few things I did actually learn in college w/ a CS major was essentially stalking... or social engineering. I did a bit of digging on an acquaintance for educational purposes and was dumbfounded at the information I was able to find.. I'm talking home address, phone number, family members, business addresses, date of birth, etc.

I would love to hear what everyone else thinks as I have no experience on how this stuff is handled in the military and would prefer not to take the incorrect reaction, whether it be under-reacting or over-reacting. Also, my follow up question is, how serious is this sort of stuff for the SOF community in terms of just having a social media account? Delete it completely? Be extremely careful? Or it's not as big of a deal, just don't be stupid? Would greatly appreciate some insight. Thank you

 

[Kraut783]

Bottom line, get off social media, or have the discipline to only use it for family and friends...but keeping it vanilla.

LEO, SOF, Military, or professional employee......every boss looks at social media when hiring these days.

One of the issues I had with FB, I kept it very vanilla...but friends kept posting photos with me linked to the photos...to include deployed pics and professional pics...screw that...just got off.

 

[Philopalope]

Bottom line, get off social media, or have the discipline to only use it for family and friends...but keeping it vanilla.

LEO, SOF, Military, or professional employee......every boss looks at social media when hiring these days.

One of the issues I had with FB, I kept it very vanilla...but friends kept posting photos with me linked to the photos...to include deployed pics and professional pics...screw that...just got off.

How would you handle stuff that is a bit more out of your control such as voter registration information? You can opt-in to be a confidential voter but previous logs on the internet are still public domain.

 

[Kraut783]

that stuff won't get you in trouble and lose your clearance, or get you fired or be used against you by a defense attorney in court.....etc.

 

[Salt USMC]

How would you handle stuff that is a bit more out of your control such as voter registration information? You can opt-in to be a confidential voter but previous logs on the internet are still public domain.

If you get a job in some clandestine capacity, you won't need to worry about that kind of stuff.

 

[Philopalope]

If you get a job in some clandestine capacity, you won't need to worry about that kind of stuff.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[SpitfireV]

Just don't be stupid on it. That's all life on social media really is.

 

[Kaldak]

At risk of @Ooh-Rah yelling at me for possibly being outside my lane...stop wasting your time worrying about this unless you have something to hide, in which case, stop hiding it. Disclose it on your forms and interviews and explain your choices. Otherwise, you're fine. Nothing to hide, nothing to worry in these terms.

 

[Hillclimb]

Just keep it vanilla: family, friends, no extreme political or religious views. I feel it'd raise more flags if you were to get rolled up, and the guys found zero internet footprint from you. Then that raises the question of.. well what's so special about this guy that he'd need to erase himself from the internet?

I'm sure guys who work SERE or PR have a better answer.

 

[BloodStripe]

It won't affect it as long as you are cognizant of what content you are putting out there.