In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about professional social media profiles, the Supreme Court’s upcoming privacy cases, and why Facebook’s new “Timeline” profile may be risky to those trying to keep their web habits secret.

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Survey Reveals What Employers Look for on Candidates’ Facebook Pages

It’s common knowledge that employers look at prospective job candidates’ Facebook pages, but they’re not only looking to disqualify people. They are also looking for things that distinguish candidates. This article from Forbes’ Kashmir Hill discusses a new survey from Reppler that shows 68% of hiring managers have hired an employee based on positive social media impressions. According to the survey, 39% of employers hired someone because their profile “gave a positive impression of their personality and organizational fit.” Creativity and being well-rounded were two other attributes that earned high marks from hiring managers.

Supreme Court Tackling Major Privacy Cases in New Term

The United States Supreme Court will hear several cases in its new term related to personal privacy. CNET’s Declan McCullagh breaks down the Supreme Court’s privacy cases, including one that will determine whether GPS tracking by law enforcement is legal without a search warrant. This is the first time the court has addressed this issue since the 1980s, when tracking technology was significantly less advanced.

Facebook Advice for Employers and Employees

In this article for CNET, Dennis O’Reilly discusses the National Labor Relations Board’s efforts to protect individuals who have been fired for posting inappropriate, but legally allowed, content on their online profiles. O’Reilly also offers tips to employers on how to craft an effective social media policy that doesn’t quell speech, as well as tips to employees on how to act online so as to avoid getting in trouble with one’s boss.

Small Change to Facebook Tagging Presents Privacy Concerns

Most of the press surrounding Facebook’s recent profile overhaul has focused on the site’s drastically different new look, but The Globe and Mail touches on a smaller, but arguably more important change. According to The Globe and Mail, Facebook has changed how users can untag themselves in photos, making it much harder for individuals to manage their online image. Quoting the article, “After a small interface switchup, Facebook now only offers users a one-click way to hide the photo on their profile – but not to get rid of the tag itself. The photo will still be identified in the album of the person who posted it, should anyone see it there. The link will still go to your page. And most importantly, Facebook itself will still know that it’s you in that picture.” Facebook’s desire for more tags, at the cost of user control, reveals the company’s true position on privacy.

Facebook Timeline Causes Privacy Panic

This amusing and insightful article from the Sophos security blog discusses how Facebook’s new “Timeline” profile design may pose major problems for individuals who want to keep their online actions private. The article also discusses how difficult editing one’s timeline is, saying, “Facebook has made it as simple as pie to edit your Timeline, if you like pie that’s really bad. It amounts to a grueling item-by-item scouring, a drop-down click for each item.” Facebook has announced that the Timeline rollout will occur on October 11th. At that time, there will surely be an uproar from a good portion of the company’s 800+ million users, but will it be enough to warrant any action?