A few days ago, a meeting of the House of Representatives was called to discuss the legality of employers requiring potential and current employees to reveal their social media passwords. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) presented the measure, which would allow the FCC to prevent such an act. The bill was voted down 184 to 236 and did not pass.

Politics aside, the actuality that employers have been asking for confidential passwords is a little awkward. Users of Facebook (the social network the bill has chosen to focus on, although all networks are included) are unhappy about the practice. In response to all the coverage, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan made a post on March 23 stating that Facebook did not believe anyone should ever have to share their passwords at any time.

While this social struggle continues to take shape, there are a few things you can do to keep your social media presence above board.

LinkedIn

One suggestion to remedy the request of a social network password is to direct the inquirer to LinkedIn, a social site dedicated to one's professional life. The site is extremely useful as a self promotion platform and is utilized by recruiters and HR departments quite often in the hiring process. Use the site to your advantage by acquiring recommendations from previous employers and including a comprehensive work history so that all the work information associated with a resume can live in one happy place.

Privacy...

News media coverage reports that gas may hit $5 per gallon by summertime. We also know that consumers typically reduce costs where possible and focus more on saving money when necessary living expenses, such as gas, increase. This led us here at BFG to some questions. How is this trend affecting the Generation Y demographic (women and men ages 21-34) specifically? What changes are they making? And finally, what are the implications for marketers?

In typical BFG form, we went out to find the answers. We surveyed 424 "Gen Y" respondents in 22 markets to get a better picture of the changes happening in this segment and in doing so, found some pretty interesting results.

We found that people ages 21-34 are already on the ball when it comes to financial planning for the future. 41 percent of respondents were already making plans for their finances on the chance that gas prices may rise to $5 per gallon. That led us to our next question: what changes are being made?

According to our results, 36 percent of the group is putting off an "important" purchase.  New cars (21 percent) and summer travel (11 percent) are the big ticket items that they are avoiding.  However, more than two-thirds of these “important purchases” are smaller items such as tobacco, alcohol, beer and non-essential items such as shoes and gym memberships.

The implications for marketers? Living cost increases can leave a negative impact on brand loyalty in this demographic. Many of our respondents indicated that they are willing to drop their favorite brands for lower priced competitive labels based on rising gas prices.

Because of this, building a strong brand relationship is more important now than ever. Look to social platforms that fit your brand best to start and strengthen...

Something for your inner typophile. Found on Daily Inforgraphic.

Each year, some of the most talented folks in the music, film and interactive industries converge on Austin for SXSW. It's pretty much Mecca for us creative types and often the place of origin for the year's next big thing.

Enter the cool kids at Carrot Creative and their client Jaguar USA.

They outfitted a new Jaguar XJL with video cameras and then filmed an ecclectic mix of smart, savvy, and creative people taking a ride and talking about the things that most excite them. The result is Backseat Stories, and it's reminiscent of "Taxicab Confessions," but with more innovative thinkers and fewer tranny hookers.

It's a damn good way to show off a car that doesn't involve test tracks or closed course simulations. It's also an excellent example of branded original content that people might actually want to watch—something unique and entertaining that they can't get anywhere else.

There's even a backseat performance by Jamie Scott of Graffiti6. Enjoy!

While backyard and even back patio gardening has been trendy for awhile, there hasn't been much out there to support the hobby digitally. That's starting to shift with more mobile tools becoming available for smartphones and tablets.

In this week's Tech Tuesday with WSAV, I cut through some of the app store clutter and zeroed in on a few helpful gardening applications. GardenMinder is a relatively new app that allows for garden planning, reminders sent as push notifications, and tips. We also talked through The Garden Guide, a free app chock full of information on growing and harvesting. Check out all the details in the video below.