Let me pose a question. When you are looking for a job is it in your best interests that you be as honest as you can be in who you are? I would say the answer is a resounding yes. I am often driven by expectation integration theory, which holds forth that the more closely your expectations are integrated with another entities expectations the more likely it is that the relationship will be mutually satisfying.
If your social network presence, whatever it may be, is reflective of who you are, than having that information out there is only a good thing because it will add knowledge of otherwise unknown dimensions of you to the great mix that is the decision making process.
I'm not just talking about the benign things either - that you love to ski, that your favorite novelist is Isabel Allende, that you've watched "The Wizard of Oz" a hundred times and can quote great portions of the script. I am talking about the other parts as well - your hot tub, your love of dancing at crowded clubs, your anti-capitalist protest pictures, the beer and bbq fueled weekends with your friends from your last job.
These are all a part of you, you should not have to hide them, and if you do hide them - are you better off because you hid them or not? I would venture that you are not.
In almost all circumstances as you go through life there is a simple truism involved - by and large the more honest you are, with yourself or others, the better off you will be. Yes, there may very well be a short term cost - you might not get a job you applied for.
But the long term benefit will far outweigh that short-term cost: You will get a job where you are free to be you without worrying about how your life or your lifestyle rubs up against your job. That alone is worth almost any short term cost.
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