Companies and colleges regularly look to social media activity when deciding whether to hire or accept an applicant. Now, another sector is using the same tactic: financial service firms are reviewing what people and companies do on sites like Facebook(s fb) to see if them deserve a loan.

The use of social media as a credit metric, described in this Wall Street Journal feature, is especially prevalent among start-ups like Kabbage that lend money to small businesses and others that are often ineligible for credit from traditional banks.

A potential borrower”s activity on Twitter(s twtr) and Facebook can offer a number of important insights for lenders. Tweets and posts on Facebook or LinkedIn(s lnkd) can be used, for instance, to learn new facts about a borrower or to reveal contradictions between what someone states on a loan application and what they tell others. And a social network itself can…