Gizmodo's Mat Honan submits to a "social media background check"

Mat Honan of Gizmodo volunteered to submit to a "social media background check" along with a handful of fellow Gawker Media colleagues. What the heck does that mean? Well, first, the investigation by Social Intelligence doesn't pass on actual identifiable photos of you to a prospective employer.

In other words, your drunken kegstand photos are probably fine as long as you're not wearing a T-shirt with a swastika or naked from the waist down. Basically, it just wants to know if you're the kind of asshole who will cause legal hassles for an employer. Which brings us back to my report. We ran background checks on six Gizmodo employees, including our editor in chief Joe Brown, and all but one came back clean.

Yes, that's right. All of them except Mat's, because Mat wrote something about enjoying coke and acid once. That's our Mat!

• [Anonymous]

  I’m always curious what my employer thought of my social media-less life.

• [nixiebunny]

  I’m glad my employer doesn’t do too much of that. I think there are pictures of me on the web from Burning Man.

• [Eye Open Doors]

  I want to know where the program is that does a background check on a company/corporation. I believe tit for tat when it comes to this, if I have to pee in a cup, then I believe I should get the opportunity to request all of management do the same. I also believe I should be privy to files on all of my superiors.

• [Anonymous]

  I want to work for a company that only hires you if your social background check comes back “dirty”

  • [Eye Open Doors]

    *cough*Union*cough*

• [Anonymous]

  If we’re gonna highlight random strings completely out of context, then surely the better one is “I would attempt to put a rattlesnake in my anus.”

  And IN context, the admission to have taken illegal drugs is probably more damning.

• [fraac]

  Anyone who says LSD isn’t worth it is clearly willing to sell themselves for the man. Hire that soulless bozo.

• [Anonymous]

  His comments were flagged as a negative??? Maybe they didnt read the whole thing. This guy sounds like the person you DO want to hire: someone who has made a few mistakes (who hasn’t?), but has learned a few things and is better for it. Imagine if your average banker or CEO was able to learn from his mistakes? Maybe our economy wouldn’t be on life support. Maybe Mat should be Chairmen of the Fed?