Comments on: Should We Keep Professional and Personal Separate in Social Networking

By: Social Networks & the Rookie, Part the Second: Personal or Professional? | Marketing and Public Relations Blog

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:39:13 +0000

[...] The more I do this, the more I know I’m right to keep a little healthy separation between my personal and professional social [...]

By: Navigating social networks with your students : Online Blogucation

Navigating social networks with your students : Online Blogucation — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:46:50 +0000

[...] the personal/professional dilemma has been frequently discussed (such as this post which asks, “should we keep professional and personal separate in social networking?” ). There is also practical information posted on how to keep your personal and professional [...]

By: Barbara B. Nixon

Barbara B. Nixon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:54:27 +0000

David, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I had this topic on my short-list for blogging, and I’ll definitely link to you when I finish my post. As a college professor, I am continually surprised at the transparency of many of my students. What I’m concerned about is what others are adding to their Facebook pages about them, rather than what they are posting themselves. It’s smart for all of us to check to see what photos we’re tagged in, what others have written on our walls, etc. And as a professor, when students ask me to be their friend, I always say yes. (I never initiate the friending.) I make it a point to let my classes know that I have chosen not to look through their photos nor read their walls. There are some things I just don’t want/need to know.

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:48:31 +0000

First of all D-Mu, I’m proud to call you my facebook friend, because you are a cool guy with ALWAYS interesting input/slant on a story.

Secondly, I’m proud of you for jumping on the social media project, and from my limited view, you are silly good at what you do.

And (c), I’d say the more you are yourself at work, the more comfortable you are going to feel mixing the two worlds. It’s a challenge to be myself at work, because I have to be a nerd. And isn’t it so easy to completely make an ass out of yourself on-line…I mean I have a hard enough time as it is in my neighborhood or at my church. Most of this is generational and depends obviously on the nature of the profession, and its definition of “professionalism” and commitment to an image/persona for particular clients. The question for me…what is more important…being myself or protecting my reputation. That hits me where it hurts.

By: Kristin Kalscheur

Kristin Kalscheur — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:32:51 +0000

I prefer to blend the social with the professional. I have put a lot of thought into this topic…it seems to me that with work and the workplace lines blurring so much with our personal lives, it will become natural to aggregate contacts from both spaces. If you look at how commonplace flex-time and working from home are becoming for example…the workday has now been inter-mingled with personal time. How often do you log onto your work email from home? I check my Facebook and LinkedIn pages all the time from my company laptop and use those networking resources to contact prospective employees since it’s an easy way to contact them without using their work address. I tend to think it is the least invasive approach.

Besides, if people are judging you for having a good time at a costume party, they may not be the kind of people you want to work with anyway! This is the age of information sharing, and everything about a person can be found on the internet by a savvy researcher so we may as well embrace the transparency. Since my job is in talent development, I like to show the people I interact with that I am a human being, rather than just a stodgy old curmudgeon recruiter cold calling them at the office with a “great opportunity.” Just my two cents!!

By: larak

larak — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:24:36 +0000

Catalysta, you’re so right about middle schoolers being online. I was shocked to find out the 8th graders I interact with through Big Brothers Big Sisters Project Mentor are all on Facebook and Myspace. I wonder if their parents know. I have my goddaughter on my friends list and sometimes I’m shocked at the things she posts. Maybe it’s a good thing I went to school before all of this web2.0 stuff exploded, even if it does make me old as the hills.

By: catalysta

catalysta — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:42:18 +0000

Great point, Jennifer. My only concern is that though breastfeeding might be a slightly awkward topic- it surely isn’t frowned upon by people. The issue I’m having is when maybe your not so lovely and mostly just awfully embarrassing moments displayed all over the internet for my coworkers to see. NOT the reputation I want. So does that mean I just can’t go out and do that stuff anymore? My friends are going to take those pictures and sure I can ask them to not tag them or post them… but they probably will because that’s just what you do now. The age of the digital camera is wonderful/terrible all at the same time!
I think however, that as time goes on, companies are going to have to start being a bit more lenient on their newbies entering into the professional world. With these social media outlets happening and kids as young as middle schoolers having profiles- clearly the floodgate has been opened and we all have to accommodate a bit more. These outlets have never available before and it’s a little scary to think that what was perfectly acceptable and normal in college could affect your professional life or the potential to get hired and keep your job! Employers never used to have the option of seeing these personal pictures or things plastered all over a very easily accessible place. So I guess the question is how much should you keep private and how much do clients/employers have to allow for leniency with this new media world?

By: Jennifer Laycock

Jennifer Laycock — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:11:31 +0000

I realized that the line between business and personal was pretty much hopeless when I launched The Lactivist a few years back. There’s a lot of crossover between the readers at that site (my blog about parenting, birth, breastfeeding etc…) and at my work site, Search Engine Guide.

You know what’s interesting though? How many people now approach me at conferences because they’ve read the Lactivist and they can relate to me on a personal level.

I would never have dreamed breastfeeding would be an ice breaker in a business environment, but it is. Even with the men.

Since that happened, I’ve kind of given up and live both lives together online. My twitter stream has my insights on social media and search marketing, but it also has my debates on home birth rights and a log of my saturday cooking sprees.

People do business with people, not companies. Yes, I am my brand, but part of my brand is who I am in my every day life. If someone has a problem with that, they probably don’t need to be doing business with me.

By: Cat

Cat — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:48:44 +0000

There’s no way I’d invite a client to be one of my facebook friends. I don’t have necessarily have anything to hide but they don’t need to know that many details about my life.

I can’t help but invite co-workers to be my “friends”. Heck, if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have much of a social life here in Winston. Many of the photos I have online are with them and frankly, what you see is what you get with me. I’m pretty much the same person inside the 4 walls of work as I am socially.

Great blog entry though. I loved the conversation we had today at the office about it. The whole thing can be scary if you think about it hard enough!

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:41:56 +0000

I think in the age of Google, the only choice we have is either to put personally revealing information on the Internet or not. But keeping personal and professional information separate? That’s not a choice anymore.

I suspect in the next few years we all may become a little more tolerant of each other, and used to finding out things about professional acquaintances that 10 years ago would have been secrets. Times change. When I started working professionally, about 15 years ago, very few people wore jeans to work. Now, I can think of at least a couple CEOs of Fortune 500 companies that don’t think twice about wearing jeans. Our business culture will adapt.