Q: I applied for a rental last month and thought I'd get the place -- I have an excellent record as a tenant, a stable job, and a string of happy landlords in my past. But I was rejected. A friend asked me whether I'd taken down my Facebook page before applying -- he said that landlords regularly check these, and they make decisions based on what they find. On my page, it's clear that I'm very politically active and that I'm a Buddhist. How can I find out whether the landlord went online, and whether the information he found contributed to his decision -- which would have been illegal, right? --Tom F.

A: Your friend was correct when he told you that online searches of applicants' social media postings are on the rise. In the employment area, studies show that employers regularly conduct such searches. For example, an August 2011 study by the Society for Human Resource Management contacted 541 job recruiters and found that 18 percent said their companies regularly researched their applicants on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. There's no reason to think that landlords are proceeding any differently.  more...