Read the question and the response below. Do you agree with the response? Explain why or why not. Also give a brief opinion.

Question: What discrimination risks are involved when using social media in hiring?

Response: Digital social media platforms have transformed the way that we do business on a day-to-day basis. Social media was originally used to communicate among family and friends, but that business use case has transformed into a scenario where data is being leveraged by companies to make strategic decisions. In human resource management it is dangerous to leverage social media profiles for hiring practices since most of those practices can be deemed unethical and illegal.

Social media profiles can present an unreliable inconsistent representation of the candidate and some of the biggest disadvantages to it is that there is a highly sanitized version of a person which tends to leave out the more negative aspects. Human resource professionals also will have a hard task to remain unbiased when using social media for recruitment purposes. A human being in general has difficulty remaining objective especially when reviewing commentary that they can either relate with or be offended by. There is guidance on how to use social media for recruitment purposes, but they must align with EEOC guidelines. It is likely a best practice to not use social media for initial screening purposes and if you do leverage it there has to be a level of documentation to ensure that this is a fair process of all potential candidates and a level of consistency regarding fact checking to avoid any potential liability or discrimination lawsuits on behalf of the firm.