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&lt;p&gt;When Facebook first blew up, so did fear of professional repercussions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While the Id side happily tagged ourselves in flattering cocktail party photos and &quot;liked&quot; our favorite albums, the Superego fretted about the beer picture in our hand, or the explicit lyrics in that Lil Wayne song. Comments from friends were also a liability, what with their curse words, references to less-than-wholesome activities, and links to raunchy content or videos.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But, quite comfortingly, a new study has pointed to a rather simple conclusion: that the people hiring you and looking at your Facebook profile can see past a few blue comments or party photos and quite accurately see the bigger picture of you as a person.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study of 56 students with jobs (at Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University) had raters take 10 minutes to scan students&#39; profiles and answer questions projecting their work performance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The raters, who were a university professor and two student peers, took note of photos, comments, level of education, hobbies, travel photos, and hobbies. Then they answered questions about the Facebooker&#39;s emotional stability or dependability.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Six months later, those projections were matched against actual reports from the student&#39;s supervisors on their work performance, and the results were surprisingly comparative—especially concerning traits like agreeability, conscientiousness, and intellectual curiosity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In 10 minutes, raters had predicted what months of job supervision had gradually revealed. Well-travelled students were open to new experiences at work; those pictured with lots of other people were friendly to coworkers; those with a lot of negative comments and status updates were low on morale at the office.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Researchers have suggested that the high level of correlation between Facebook and real life comes from the audience we&#39;re targeting all those status updates for. It&#39;s harder for us to hide our personalities from the people already in our lives than it is from a strange recruiter. We&#39;re more likely to be filter-free with our thoughts and ideas for the people on our friends list than we are with a recruiter from our dream company.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This effect can be troublesome for those of us who would go to great lengths to hide a disdain for authority on an interview, or neglect to mention our love of illicit substances. But for job seekers with nothing serious to hide, the transparency might be positive. A good career fit for you shouldn&#39;t require hiding your true colors, and if this study is any indication, people looking at your Facebook photos are less likely to get hung up on a detail—like a drink in your hand—and more likely to see a bigger picture: that you have a life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So yes, chill on the negativity, remove overtly glassy eyed party pics, and try to post a few more activity or group shots than glamour photos. But after that, stop worrying so much. We&#39;re all human, even recruiters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;--Cathy Vandewater, Vault.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/vcm/detail?id=51519&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;10 Things You Need to Know About Social Media for Your Job Search&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204909104577235474086304212.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Facebook Profiles Found to Predict Job Performance&lt;/a&gt; (WSJ)&lt;/p&gt;

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