Privacy in Social Media
Last week I had the good fortune to attend Blog World Expo in Las Vegas, where many of the top blog/social media/digital experts met to share best practices and introduce new tools. I sat in dozens of discussions about social media, blogging, video sharing and monetization and throughout the conference there was a reoccurring theme: managing the balance between personal, professional and private through your social media profiles.
Many people in social media struggle with this concept. On one hand, you’ll often hear the buzzwords “authentic” and “transparent” and you’ll hear experts constantly tell you to just be yourself. On the other hand, every tweet, status update or blog post you do, will live on the internet forever and has the potential of tarnishing your personal brand, or even worse, your company.
Mari Smith – a social media expert with her 50,000 + followers on Twitter and her 6,000 Facebook fans – spoke on this topic during a Facebook and Twitter session. She spoke about the importance of being professional across these mediums in order to position yourself as a leader. But she also pointed that professionalism needs to be balanced with personality. A large part of Twitter and Facebook are about connecting with people, something that is challenging to do if all you are doing is sharing links and talking about work. It’s important to infuse a little of yourself in there so people get to know you, like you and trust the links you are sharing.
Additionally, Mari stressed the importance of distinguishing personal from private. It helps to draw a line somewhere with what you feel comfortable sharing. For some, they draw the line at their children, for others, it is their relationships. Wherever your line may be, establish those parameters to what you will be keeping private, prior to jumping into the social media world.
Some companies, attempt to avoid “over-share” problems by creating a persona to manage across all social media profiles. Many of you have probably seen the commercials for TGIF, featuring Woody. The Woody persona was created to drive people to be fans of TGIF on Facebook by making the campaign seem personal, and yet allowing the company to carefully manage the personality.
So what’s your philosophy for managing your social media personality? Are you all business in order to ensure nothing inappropriate slips in? Do you think anything is fair game to share because that’s true transparency? Do you believe in privacy in social media? Have you created a persona for yourself or your company? Are you trying to balance personal/professional and if so, have you made rules for yourself as to what is private? I’d love to hear what you are doing and what you think works best.
Nice piece, Callan. You’re right that it’s important to find that balance, and just as important, to find that balance FOR YOU. Everyone’s different, some people are adamantly offline while others are awkwardly, embarrassingly TOO public (for me, at least).
This is a great post! I struggle too about being too political personally because what if someone connects me to my brand and thinks my brand is saying that, etc. etc. It is a balance
I will never tweet/blog specifically about driving because I work for a public transit company. I think is expected that I drive, as most people do, but it is a branding thing.
P.S. I think you meant 50,000?
Thanks Dave. Agreed, this is one of those things that there is no right answer because you have to do whatever you personally are comfortable with.
And thanks Natalie! I struggle too, especially since I was a freshman in college when I first got on Facebook. It is hard to shift your social networks to a more professional tone when you are used to conversing casually on them all the time. Mostly I just try and limit myself from the embarrassing “over-shares” and figure everything else is all OK in moderation.
Last week my baby boomer and self proclaimed prudish father called me with a pressing question. “What the hell is Twitter?” He asked in a mildly distressed tone. As I struggled to explain social media to my Dad I could almost hear him cringing through the phone. He was shocked that there existed such an open forum for individuals to share their lives and for companies interact so personally with consumers. “What happened to a little privacy” he asked.
I argued the pros of a the new social media generation. By creating a personal persona, companies have the opportunity to form an authentic bond with consumers, and for those consumers to have a real say what they want from their companies, the details of products and more. What’s more, since this whole conversation takes place in a public arena we’re all privy to the interaction, and become more aware and potentially happier consumers.
I don’t anticipate Dad friend requesting me on Facebook anytime soon, but I think he understood some of the merits of at least partially full disclosure in social media, and how the fall of privacy may create greater companies and more informed consumers.
Hi Amanda,
Thanks so much for your thoughts. I had a similar experience with both my parents and my grandparents. Social media may not be for everyone, but I think once people understand the distinction between what you share and what you keep private, they feel a little more comfortable with the medium.
Thanks for reading!
-Callan
Great insight to an increasingly challenging dilemma. As a person in their late twenties, the delineation between professional and personal contacts during the last decade has become opaque. The intuition required to thrive among the chaos requires censorship without alienation.
Some reserve professional contacts for networks like linkedin and personal contacts for the facebooks of the world. However, this double life can create a barrage of questions on one’s character, not to mention badwill for those professional contacts who don’t get asked to sit at the “cool kids” lunch table via a fb friend request. Thankfully, the evolution of privacy options in social media helps us navigate these sensitive issues with grace and delicacy.
Hi Micah,
Thanks for your comments! So true – Facebook privacy options are pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. Certainly helps manage the distinction between private/professional.