It’s a pretty well known fact that you need to critically monitor your virtual footsteps whenever you post anything online, especially on social media.
Usually at the most inopportune of times, things or issues which you may not want revealed about yourself can go quickly viral.
This information can then get into the wrong hands, read by the wrong eyes. It can appear in the view of others who you don’t want to be discovered by.
Also, if they really need to, they can find this information by performing a quick search on everything and anything about you at any time. Things, potential dirt which you may not want known.
Social media has made a big stamp on the Internet, and now has a huge impact on your personal and more importantly your professional life.
You’ve most likely heard of a few “horror” stories of what too much bad exposure on social media can have. As a result, relationships become damaged, or complete careers have gone down the drain. All this because of social media indiscretion.
So what’s compiled is a list of some potentially job and career threatening social media blunders which anyone can innocently make, and what you can do to avoid them.
Social Media Mistakes To Avoid
• Know What Your Company’s Social Media Policy Is – Some companies may not have one, but by now, every business is aware of social media and it’s potentially lethal consequences.
Companies, depending on its size, scope, and nature will usually have different stances on what you can or can’t do on social media. For extremely large companies who has a reputation to protect, will not allow their employees from identifying where they work when on Facebook, for example.
This in order to completely minimize legal issues as well as maintaining a good public image. So that being said, it becomes extremely important to know what your company’s social media policy is, this so that you won’t be breaking it.
• Impulsive Or Chronic Serial Posting – Most have been guilty of this at one time or another, getting seduced into impulsive posting of irrelevant or worse, revealing things on the various social media platforms just because you wanted to vent.
It becomes extremely important to think about how others, the entire Internet, will receive, read, and then interpret your social media updates and postings.
These are usually the emotionally charged late at night status updates that you make, or those rant based tweets which could at times be considered inappropriate or even offensive.
So make it a point to steer clear of these impulses and types of posts which will make you appear completely unprofessional and scattered, this especially if your employer, or potential employer happens to read them.
• Using Poor Grammar Spelling Or Slang – This a personal pet peeve of many, nothing turns off a prospective employer faster than a poorly written resume. Or if they happen to review your job application and read your sub par language skills, spelling mistakes, and bad grammar.
On social media, if you don’t bother using proper language, passable grammar and correct spelling in your status updates, forum postings, or tweets, how do you expect a potential employer to take you seriously. So… Srsly dude, know that U R 2 old 4 doing this.
• Thinking That All Social Media Sites Are The Same – You shouldn’t be engaging and treating all of the various social networking sites the same exact way. All of the respective various platforms are different while serving their own distinct purpose.
So know the difference between a tweet, a LinkedIn posting, and a status update, as they all project their own different influences.
The next time that you decide to share something with others on your favorite social network, take the time to know what direct influence it has. Know which is the most appropriate avenue for you to get your information out.
• Avoiding Social Media Networks Altogether – Some individuals are so wary when it comes to social media, that they avoid it altogether.
So they’ll refuse to start their own personal Facebook profile or if they do, they’re terrified to post their photo or give any bit of information, which closely borders on paranoia.
What they don’t realize is that avoiding social media altogether many be just as harmful as as sharing too much information.
The reason being that social media, if you’re looking for a new job for instance, happens to be one of the best recruiting tools that’s available, and as a result are used by almost every employer.
A site such as LinkedIn is an extremely valuable networking tool, and if you’re not on there, you may be missing out on potential job, employment, and networking opportunities.
Just Don’t Go Overboard
So you need some type of a presence on social media these days, and you also need to keep it under control and monitored. There’s no set list of rules other than moderation when it comes to what’s appropriate for social media.
Social media has now become extremely prominent and isn’t going away anywhere anytime soon. So it’s up to you to properly manage your social media activities and exposure, and not alienate or turn off your current employers or potential new ones.
What you want is a presence on one or all of the major sites, such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, but want to remain as neutral as possible.