SimpleWash: Cleaning Up Your Dirty Facebook History

By Megan Weyrauch on February 17, 2013

Social media is sweeping the world on an occupational level. As college students, we strive to get our dream jobs and internships, applying again and again to multiple position openings. We are constantly warned to monitor our social media pages and to stay aware of what we and our friends are putting online; the eyes of professionals are lurking. Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide easy ways for employers to get an early glance at what a prospective intern or employee may be like.

While watching the news in my hometown of Kettering, Ohio, I heard about an application cleverly named “FaceWash,” an online app that searches through your Facebook page history for content that may be deemed inappropriate by professionals. Instantly intrigued, I decided to run a check on my own page to test the program.

 

Basic information     

First of all, this app has been renamed to “SimpleWash” (not so clever). You can find it by searching in the Facebook search bar, or by going to the website: http://simplewa.sh/login. Within seconds, this college-student created app will search:

-your wall

-your photos, tagged photos, and liked photos

-your liked links

-your status updates

-your liked pages (descriptions)

Once SimpleWash detects what it believes is inappropriate, you are able to click on the linked text, which will take you to the post/photo comment/page itself. From there, you are able to do what you will with the “inappropriate” content. Upon doing my personal SimpleWash test, I was able to search through my entire Facebook history (at least five years of content, starting with the day I did the search), which I found pretty impressive.

 

Some downsides

Although SimpleWash can prove helpful in some cases, the program has some downsides.

1) SimpleWash searches through text only. This means those photos of you knocking back a few (illegal) drinks with your buddies will not appear on a SimpleWash search; you will have to manually search for those precious jewels. However, snarky comments about how many beverages you consumed that night WILL show up in a search.

2) When it comes to flagging text, SimpleWash will highlight words without regarding their context. For example, my search resulted in one of my liked vendor pages that used the word “smoke” when referring to a “smoke-free” environment. The word “murder” came up in my liked page for Hamlet. Furthermore, the word “speed” (as in “speed up”) made an appearance. These words would personally not concern me if an employer were to come across them. Curse words, of course, were highlighted as well. You can, however, also type in your own list of words that you wish the app to search for, which may prove more helpful in some cases.

 

Is it worth it?

After my personal search with SimpleWash concluded, I realized I spent more time laughing with my boyfriend at what SimpleWash found inappropriate than I did deleting any content. There was only one page that I deleted, due to what I thought was something I would not want to be associated with if an employer were to take the time to click through my hundreds of liked pages. However, maybe others would find the program more helpful; SimpleWash certainly does the dirty work for you.

I would encourage you to try SimpleWash if you’re concerned with how your Facebook page appears to the professional world. While you will probably end up laughing at the ludicrous search results, this app is a start, as it is still important to consider how your Facebook page reflects you. Employers who have never met you can access some of your information; while this may seem unfair, you have the option to choose what you put on the internet. Exercise caution in the content you wish to share, and check out SimpleWash to monitor the possible unprofessionalism of your page.

Would you try using an app like SimpleWash to clean up your page, or are you unconcerned with employers checking out your online persona?

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