The strength of your relationships on Facebook could be important when it comes to your ability to find a job, a
recent study published in the Journal of Labor Economics suggests, though the relationship is somewhat nuanced.
The study, published in January, looked at whether "strong" or "weak"
personal ties on Facebook were the most useful when it comes to finding
a job. Researchers used photo tags and walls posts to measure tie
strength, or how close the relationships actually were.
So, the better friends you are with someone in real life, the more likely they are to help you out in your job search.
Here's where the data from this Journal of Labor Economics study gets
tricky. Researchers noted that a person's Facebook network is not an
exact representation of their real life network, and that a large amount
of unobservable contact takes place outside of Facebook. However,
despite these shortcomings, Facebook interaction is a good predictor of
real-world tie strength. And while good friends are powerful, the
"weaker" friends can be as well.
"When looking at the collective power of weak ties, we find weak ties
matter most," researchers said. "But, when we look individually at all a
person's social connections, we find that a single strong tie is more
influential than a single weak tie."
How does that work?
The study concluded that there are actually very few strong ties on
Facebook, but when they exist, they are "associated with a higher
probability of job help."
"Weak ties are important in aggregate because they are numerous,"
researchers reported, "while single strong ties are scarce but
associated with a higher probability of job help."
Researchers suggested there's an easy way to take advantage of this when
looking for your next job.
"A person is more likely to work with a weaker tie because weaker
ties collectively make up most of a person's social network,"
researchers said. "But, strengthening an existing tie should increase
the probability that you will work with that specific friend."
If you are looking for a better job, it can be helpful to keep an eye
on your credit reports as they may end up being part of your evaluation
during the hiring process.
It's a hotly contested subject, but employers are allowed to check your credit reports before they hire you. You can get started by checking out
your free credit report summary every month on Credit.com. And you can get
copies of your credit reports for free once a year from each of the
major credit reporting agencies.
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/04/05/want-a-better-job-make-better-facebook-friends/21338717/