Surely to be taken seriously in the world of Social Media, I must have my own blog, Twitter, and Facebook account, correct? However, as a staff member of a Social Media based company, I find myself in a constant battle between my professional and personal social networking sites. What is an acceptable post? Where can I express my emotions? Or will I have to resort back to only telling people how I feel when I can actually talk to them in person? Gasp! Here's how I've sorted it out up to this point.
I was a member of the original Facebook era in which only college students were allowed to join. It felt safe, and being surrounded by only members of my alma mater left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. I actually got frustrated with the folks that used privacy options because, come on, we're all friends here right? When Facebook opened up to the public, however, it became my most guarded social network. My profile, photos, and information are only available to those people that I have accepted as my friends, and when it comes to the number of Facebook friends I have it is no longer about quantity, but about quality. Only people I truly know are allowed to be my Facebook friends, thus allowing me to express feelings that may not be suitable for my public and professional persona.
Twitter was brought to my attention about a year ago, and being the social media junkie that I am, I started to Tweet and never turned back. With Twitter, I knew I had the option to guard my thoughts with privacy settings, but chose to open my comments up to the public, knowing that privacy settings would hinder my following. As I Tweet, I am more guarded than on Facebook, and I'm always careful to not put anything incriminating in a Tweet. Sometimes I feel silly about my random Tweets about traffic or what I want for lunch because I am a professional, but at the end of the day I am first and foremost myself and that cannot be completely obscured by professionalism.
Tumblr is my most recently joined social network, and it is arguably my favorite. It's fairly easy to have an anonymous blog that it completely open to the public eye. Simply choose a pseudonym that will not reveal your identity, and let the blogging begin. Of course, if you do choose to let loose on this blog, do not put it on your resume. Some companies may want to see your blog to get a better feel for who you are as a person. For this you may want to create an additional, cleaner blog that is a good representation of you as a professional. Not to say that this blog must be exclusively about politics and your thoughts on the economy, but you may want to keep your guilty pleasure of watching late night reruns of Full House in your underwear on the hush.
Social media is out there, and it is becoming more important to get involved, as it can be a useful tool for professionals. It is fairly easy to balance the personal and professional as long as you keep in mind your audience. However, when in doubt, privacy options never hurt anyone.
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