Social Media: Friend or Foe?

By: Julie Smith

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

In this day and age, not being on social media sites is like social abomination. You want to stay connected with your friends and be as up-to-date with worldwide happenings as you possibly can. Smart phones, iPads, iPods, Laptops, etc. all aid in our ability to update our status, tweet, or upload a photo to the Internet via social media at the click of a button. This however, can cause serious problems for you as a professional.

Separating the Personal and Professional

You can do it.  Exert some self-control when you feel the urge to post something potentially controversial or inappropriate.

Try having a personal and a professional Twitter account. Follow your friends and celebrities on your personal account. Still maintain some level of professionalism on this page, but use it more for social interaction with your peers.  Your professional account is where you should follow professionals.  Follow companies you are interested in working for. Make this site public to anyone. Still monitor your followers and keep spammers or negativity away from your page. Use this as a place to market yourself. Add your LinkedIn account as your website and tweet about things you have accomplished and are proud of. Re-tweet industry related articles and "favorite" great posts by great companies.

My rule of thumb with Facebook is: do not post anything you would not want your grandma to see. Even if you have the coolest grandma in the world, you know there are some things that are just off limits. Sure, grandma probably does not care that you went to Harry’s with a couple of friends, but I would be willing to bet she would not want to see you excessively drinking or dancing on bars. A recruiter once told me that pictures in a bar are fine, as long as your eyes do not give you away. The bottom line here, just be smart.

Be Careful With What You Endorse

What you like, follow and post on Facebook or Twitter does define you. Make sure they are things you would be proud to bring up in a face-to-face conversation with someone. Also be aware of how much you are endorsing. Your Facebook friends probably do not care if you “like” every single book you have read, movie you have watched or television show you like. Moderation is key here. It is good to show some personality by endorsing things you are passionate about, but be careful to not over do it.

Privacy Settings Are Your Friend

Play it safe and keep things private, especially on Facebook. Take off your email address and phone number because those are easy ways that someone looking to find your Facebook can search you by. Check your privacy settings every now and then, because sometimes Facebook will change their policies and not alert you. In reality, the more private you are, the better things will be. Is that not the truth in your day-to-day life anyway?

In conclusion, social media has so many benefits both personal and professional. Using your best judgment to filter out the good and the bad will help you to successfully use social media for personal and professional use. Just remember- if you are ever unsure about whether or not something is social media appropriate, have your grandma look over it!