Deep Dive Social Media Screenings
Uncover the truth about your candidate in the courts and online.
Why Conduct Social Media Screenings?
According to the PBSA, social media research is the top background screening service that global companies are expanding on. Social media research is crucial for supplementing your background checks. In our media reports, XG includes any derogatory or controversial content, including bigoted, racist, sexist, or violent sentiments that others may be able to exploit. Additional online findings that can otherwise be interpreted as questionable or problematic are also collected. This can include publicly available mugshots, arrest info, lawsuits, and more.
The average personal globally spends about 145 minutes on social media every day. Learn more about the benefits of conducting recurring media checks on your employees, contractors, and vendors!
An Enthusiastic and Dynamic Social Media Team
Our dedicated team of media analysts is trained in cultural awareness, biases, confidentiality, and several foreign languages in order to uphold our standards of impartiality and accuracy within our reports. Many companies only use tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct social media searches, but XG’s media reports are created by actual people. AI often misses key context-based information that our media analysts are able to catch. We use a variety of methods including targeted keyword searches, private and public databases, and 65+ social media platforms.
Globally, the average individual has over 8 social media accounts. Are you perusing all social media platforms applicable to your subject?
Social Media Reports for Employers
Conducting background checks on new hires or current employees ensures that the employer receives the most accurate representation of the candidate and reduces the risk of potential business liabilities and other penalties. When conducting a social media screening for employment purposes, our media analysts redact protected class information in adherence with employment laws and regulations. Our goal is to give you the most holistic picture of your candidate so you can decide if their character aligns with your company’s culture and values.
It is important to note that The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) places specific requirements on employment screening processes. These requirements include the need for accuracy, completeness, and fairness. While social media screenings are not currently explicitly covered under the FCRA, any information obtained from social media profiles will still be used in compliance with these guidelines. Therefore, employers must ensure that any information used for hiring decisions is accurate, unbiased, and relevant to the job requirements.
Using artificial intelligence as the primary screening method can potentially lead to inaccuracies, biases, and potential discrimination against certain candidates, which can violate FCRA guidelines. For example, AI may not be able to accurately distinguish between a candidate’s personal opinions and their professional behavior, or it may fail to recognize important context that can explain a candidate’s behavior.
We also provide Social Media Monitoring services for any immediate or on-going project.
Human Element vs. Artificial Intelligence
In today’s world, social media has become a powerful tool for individuals and businesses alike. AI tools used for social media are still in their infancy and are prone to errors and missed findings. AI algorithms for scanning social media posts are imperfect and can be risky to rely on. For example, although AI tools can be trained to recognize images of weapons, NSFW content, hate symbols, etc., these programs are prone to miss blurry images, objects that are not in the foreground of the image, and images altered by editing.
While AI is a supplemental tool for screening, it’s important to remember that a human element will always be necessary for truly effective screening.
XG's Human Researchers:
Adapt to Nuanced and Changing Social Media
While social media can provide a wealth of information about an individual, it’s important to remember that not everything is as it seems. There are often cultural nuances and inside jokes that might be difficult for an AI algorithm to understand.
A human researcher can take these nuances into account and make more informed decisions as a result. Humans can pick up on sarcasm, irony, and other subtle linguistic cues that machines commonly struggle with. Toxic behavior is often conveyed through such subtle cues, and AI programs do not have the capabilities to detect every instance of this.
AI programs are designed to learn from data, but are limited by the quality and quantity of data available. Social media content and trends are constantly evolving, and new patterns of toxic behavior emerge all the time. XG’s social media analysts are continuously learning and adapting to these new patterns in real-time, whereas an AI program would need to be retrained with new data.
Identify Patterns In Social Media Behavior, Without Limitations In The Scope Of Post History
When it comes to social media screening, recognizing patterns is crucial. A human researcher can identify patterns of behavior that might not be immediately obvious to an algorithm. For example, they might notice that an individual frequently engages in toxic behavior online, or that they have a long history of making derogatory comments.
AI tools can be used to recognize images of weapons, Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content, and hate symbols, but controversial posts can easily be missed. Examples include blurry images and images that are altered by editing.
XG’s researchers are not limited in the scope of post history they can review, whereas AI programs face limitations in how much of a profile it can screen. AI may only be able to analyze more recent posts, such as those made within the last several years.
As an added layer of caution, clients can ask XG to friend request/follow private accounts. This allows us to manually search for and analyze posts from an individual’s entire social media history, including private posts that are not publicly visible.
Access to private posts through friend and follow requests allows for a more comprehensive analysis of an individual, which may provide a more accurate picture of their behavior and character. AI programs are limited to analyzing posts that are available on public profiles. This results in only posts that contain certain keywords being flagged.
Make Judgment Calls And Provide Context
While algorithms can be very effective at identifying certain types of content, there are always going to be edge cases where it’s unclear whether a particular post or comment is problematic. These context-dependent posts often go undetected by AI algorithms. XG’s human background researchers meticulously scan through large amounts of social media posts and can use their judgment to determine whether or not something should be flagged.
One of the biggest challenges of social media screening is that it’s often difficult to determine the context of a particular post or comment. AI can understand context in some social media posts, but it does not have pattern recognition abilities. This makes it more difficult to determine the overall tone of a media finding. A human background researcher can take the time to investigate the finding further and provide context, which can help to ensure that individuals aren’t unfairly penalized for something that might have been taken out of context.
Review Audio And Video Recordings
Leading AI-driven social media screening tools are generally unable to listen to audio. This constraint severely limits their ability to capture key findings in podcasts, YouTube videos, live streams, TikTok videos, and more. Human researchers can listen to audio and watch video in order to determine if flaggable content exists.
Prioritize Privacy
Social media screening can be a sensitive process. A lot of personal information is available on social media platforms, and it is important to handle this information with care. A human background researcher can take steps to protect an individual’s privacy while still conducting an effective screening.
Tailor Searches To Your Exact Needs
It is difficult to train AI to look for certain types of posts. If you are interested in a social media screening that specifically focuses on posts related to a certain topic, human researchers are your best option.
While technology may offer quick and automated solutions, it often falls short in providing customized reports that cater to each client’s needs. On the other hand, using human social media background researchers offers a more personalized approach. Our skilled professionals can sift through vast amounts of social media data to extract the most relevant information that aligns with your specific requirements.
