A US start-up called Social Intelligence has developed software for human resources departments, allowing them to automatically search social networking sites to run background checks on job applicants.
According to Datamation, the software is designed to specifically search for negative characteristics in a candidate, covering categories such as poor judgement, gang membership, drugs and drug references and potentially violent behaviour.
The company also offers a separate service that runs continual tabs on existing employees with real-time notifications going to employers.