I’ve been writing about employers who Google candidates prior to interviewing them or hiring them for some time, but the stakes on using information found online to make a hiring decision just got higher.

AOL recently reported that the Federal Trade Commission recently granted background check company Social Intelligence permission to search information from people’s social networking sites as part of routine background checks, stating the checks are in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

What this means is that any information from a social networking site posted in the public domain is fair game for a hiring authority to review. Soon a prospective employer may have a report containing your social media footprint… the pictures, the Facebook “likes”, the tweets, the blog comments, and whatever else they can find. If they dig up anything that suggests questionable behavior, poor judgement, racism, or illegal activity, you could find yourself off the employer’s “short list” very quickly.

But it’s not all bad. A social search can also reveal information on a candidate’s charitable or volunteer activities, positive participation on industry blogs, and professional recognitions and distinctions. And services such as these may help regulate social media searches. Information that is Federally and State protected is redacted from the reports and the employer is never exposed to anything that is not legally allowable or not relevant for the hiring process. This makes the service enticing to employers since it makes them less vulnerable to discrimination charges and other legal risks.

So now’s probably a good time to review your social media profiles and either remove or make private anything you don’t want an employer to potentially find. Maybe it’s time to stop tweeting with the #thingsthatirritateme Twitter hashtag and rethink the Facebook group you joined called Another Farmville invite and I will kill your animals and burn your crops. Just a thought.