SimpleWash takes care of your social media dirty work

By Danny Cozzi

Do you ever worry about potential employers looking through your Facebook and Twitter pages?

Personally, I don’t care very much, but if you tend to find yourself double-checking your posts before they go up, some relief from those worries is now available.

According to ABC News, the answer to your concern is called SimpleWash, previously known as FaceWash, a Facebook app created by three Kent State University students. Once you log in through your Facebook account, the program will filter through all of your posts in search of text that contains inappropriate content. The app then will allow you to delete any information that might seem unsuitable to future employers who may one day creep through your entire online life.

“We wanted to give [Facebook] users a choice to control what potential employers might see,” David Steinberg, one of the creators from Kent State, told ABC News.

Along with Steinberg, there are two students who helped develop the app: Daniel Gur and Camden Fullmer.

Junior business major Brandon Martin said he is always conscientious about what he posts on Facebook.

“I typically screen my photos and posts before I post anything,” Martin said. “[SimpleWash] cleans a person’s act up before they present themselves professionally.”

So, being the curious young man I am, I decided to run my own Facebook page through SimpleWash just to see what dirt it could dig up on me. Dating back to 2007, when I logged into Facebook for the first time, this app found every post containing a foul word. And holy cow, I think I need an Facebook swear jar.

Luckily for my vocabulary, most of the cuss words I used were only found in posts at least a year old, so I’m getting better. But still, I guess I can’t rightfully judge potty-mouthed fraternity guys on the bus anymore.

But, text isn’t the only concern when it comes to Facebook users. Being tagged in embarrassing photos and videos of last Thursday night, and Friday and Saturday. It only presents questionable photos and videos if you or one of your friends commented with a dirty word.

Also, the app is a bit sensitive with its language flagging. Heck, I found myself scrolling through three separate mentions of one of my favorite blues artists, John Lee Hooker. Alright, so maybe it needs a little bit of work.

But don’t you worry. SimpleWash is still a little bitty beta app, and the three Kent State students have plans for it to prosper with image and object recognition technology, according to ABC News.

With the improvement of this app, I’m hoping more people in college will decide to use it to their advantage. But it’s always good to be aware of what you post on the Internet. And who knows, if people start posting cleaner photos, potential employers will have to go back to actually getting to know prospective employees through interviews. Now would that be weird or what?

To try it for yourself, go to simplewa.sh and see what the app can dig up on you.