In case you haven't noticed, kids these days are very open online about what's going on in their lives.

Personally, as someone who's 33, I don't consider myself to be a kid, but friends of mine my age have a hard time understanding a lot of the things I'm into online, like Facebook, Twitter, and Dodgeball, along with my personal blog, where I share a lot about where I am and what I'm feeling with the world.

But what about actual kids these days. As in, people in or soon to be graduating from college. What's the web life like for them?

Let's look at it from the job seeking perspective. Web geek Niall Kennedy recently sat down with his younger sister who's going into her sophomore year of college to discuss Facebook. During that conversation, the topic of online reputations came up where Niall asked if his sister Sinead is concerned about whether her online Facebook photos will effect her future job prospects. Her response:

If someone doesn't like me because because I'm drinking or streaking nude, then I'll just go to someone who wants to streak nude and drink with me. Maybe they'll give me a job.

You go girl.

Coincidentally, a Minneapolis programmer, Bex Huff, took at look at this from the perspective of hiring companies and thinks future hiring of recruits like Sinead Kennedy will break down like this:

Take My Privacy, Please!

I'd wager the following will happen:

* Unenlightened and dull organizations will implement policies against hiring people with embarrassing profiles.
* Exciting and fun companies won't care, as long as you're a talented and genuine person.
* Dull companies will hire boring, untalented, and duplicitous employees.
* Fun companies will hire exciting, talented, and honest employees.

Take a guess who will win in the end.

I think we're in the middle of a radical transition from privacy to publicity where companies are going to know more about their employee's personal lives than ever before. Some will freak out when they find out about their employee's personal hobbies and interests while others will realize that it's the bottom line that really matters within the company.

Some people really will be idiots online, but companies will learn to put idiocracy in perspective. For example, an underage student drinking and streaking probably won't be a career ending move once millions of recruits have photos online drinking and streaking.