Just last week Next Gov published an article entitled “Who’s Driving Social Media Use at Work?” One survey showed the younger generation were behind the babyboomers!   Yes, in addition to your boss, and college admittance office–mom, auntie and oh yes, grandma, may now be watching.  There are implications that we should review as it relates to social behaviors and perceptions on line.

Here’s what I mean… Not long ago I stumbled across an online profile for my dear, sweet niece, who is a social worker, a phenomenal mother and wife and is just finishing grad school with her degree in Psychology. Needless to say, she’s the bomb. But I was appalled when I tried to connect with her on line. She had a fairly innocent photo of herself, out with friends, but a little martini glass in the background. She’s since changed that, but what that told me, was lots of new adopters to the social world may not be attuned to visibility and responsibility required for such a migration.

In a hypothetical world…let’s say last week, a friend of mine, let’s call her Andy, posted some details about a wild weekend party she had with some of her old pals. There was drinking, a bit of smoking and a lot of harmless fun. Harmless, that is, until someone in her office got wind of what she had done. By the end of the week, Andy had taken down her post, but not before everyone in the office had passed it on and read everything twice over.

So, what does this incident teach the rest of us?

What you post out there develops a life of its own and it may come back to haunt you!

When you’re having fun and want to share something, there are times when you think only of the present. You’re posting for your friends. So, it stands to reasons that you’re allowed a little extra helping of freedom, right? WRONG!

The problem with social networking is that you never know who’s reading what you have put up there. All the comments and pictures you share are open to anybody to do whatever they deem fit. Besides your friends, people reading your post could include your boss, your next door neighbor or even your Grandma. Do you really want them to see you in an itsy bitsy bikini or know your take on a controversial company decision? No way!

Here are a few more examples from real life:

• A family that had put up some of their vacation pictures on their blog was flabbergasted to see one of these pictures in a local advertisement a few weeks later!
• An employee of Philadelphia Eagles posted this on their wall:??“… devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver. Damn Eagles are retarded.” ??What happened? Eagles fired him.
• After an interview, a Cisco aspirant tweeted:??“Cisco just offered me a job. Now, I have to weigh the benefits of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”??Sure, many of us hate our daily commutes. But, coming out in the open with it? A no brainer. Someone from Cisco saw the post and took prompt action to relieve this guy from his job.

Everything – every word, picture, video and audio – of what you post online is captured for eternity. If you’re unlucky enough to do the wrong thing, your seemingly innocent post will be broadcasted over and over again, until it reaches the proportions of a tidal wave that can bring you down with it! In the above case, the Cisco guy has more than three hundred re-tweets for ‘Cisco Fatty’!

If you’ve said something you shouldn’t, there really is no way you can predict what will happen. Kimberley Swann discovered this the hard way when she was fired for calling her job ‘boring’! Fair? Maybe not. But, it’s happening and unless you want to be at the bad end of the deal, you had better watch out.

So, before saying “I hate my boss” or “I was bored to death at Aunt Nelly’s party”, think twice. People are listening to everything you say. You are probably being followed by someone who knows your boss, or by Aunt Nelly herself. Hey, the world is small and round – never more so than in social media. Once you push the ‘Hit’ button, there’s no taking it back. You can’t stop the press, even if you discovered to your horror that you grandma is on Twitter!

Seth Godin is right when he says that Google never forgets.

I’m going to qualify that by saying that social media never forgets.

The reason is easy to find. Social media is a bunch of public forums. Even in the world of privacy settings you will be discovered. These days, just about everyone is trying their hand at Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the like. Your boss might feel obligated to check you out before he recommends your name for a rise. Your hiring manager might be considering the top three candidates for a post and decide to take a look at your social media profile. Your uncle, your aunt, your nephew and by-golly – your grandma – it’s no holds barred!

Make sure that what you write is acceptable to the thousands or millions of people out there. What you leave on cyberspace must reflect the person you really are without humiliating you or endangering your chances of making it big in a competitive market.

We all say things we’ve regretted. But when it is down in print, it’s hard to erase. What you say may be veiled, protected or commented out. But, there are still ways to find out what you said. Some long forgotten thread may still dangle long enough to point an incriminating finger at you.

So, my best advice is this: keep all your posts upbeat. Keep your pictures flattering and wholesome. Talk about things that show you in the best light possible. If you have nothing nice to say, mum’s the word. Your social media presence is your face to the millions of people who walk past you on the information highway. Let it be a beacon of hope and happiness. Let it make you proud and give you a hand to better success.

Resources:

• Be careful what you put in writing
• Keep safe on Facebook

© 2010, TiffanyO.. All rights reserved.

I don’t know about you, but the hype over having large communities might be a little over rated.  That is if you look at sheer numbers to determine influence.

Here’s what I mean, if you have recently received a “Facebook Friend” request, then ask yourself:

1) How does this person know me?

2) Why do they want to connect?

3) Do I really care?

4) What will I give back?

5) Have I tossed the ping-pong ball back by visiting them and giving a meaningful “shout-out” or acknowledged their presence?

It’s so easy to accept a request, only later to find out that you’ve been fooled by a spammer! Or worse, that you’ve become a “taker” and not a giver.

That applies to Twitter too!  Really, any community that you commit to joining expects something of you–engagement.  Will you “bring it” when you join?

Here are five tips to being a “giver” and not a taker while social networking:

1) Listen first.  Try get a sense for what your audience likes.  If it doesn’t work for you, swap out a friend or two to improve the quality of your network and relationships.

2) Think about what they need.  Give them both what they want and need.  You’ll only know this if you’ve grown your community in a targeted way.

3) Mix it up a little by making the shift from “marketer” to “problem solver”.  Stop pushing your stuff and pull a little to figure out a solution you can respond with.

4) Stop looking for your angle.  You know what I mean…you’ve got a favor “you” need.  STOP!  Put agendas aside and just “be here now”.

5) If you feel you have nothing of value to say, then be okay with contributing a “ditto” via RT (re-tweet).  Imitation is still the greatest form of flattery. Oh, and saying nothing at all might be the wise course too.

Ultimately, never forget that social networks are just platforms, and that we must humanize the tools.  A case in point, not long ago I noticed that Starbucks had a post on Twitter for a talent opportunity. Notice the human touch after I contributed a response…

Saw this while online

Thought of who in my network would fit.

They provided a human response. Notice the initials.

At the end of the day, people care about, and want to do business with people that the know, like and trust.  So be more than a “friend” or a “follower” taking up space on someones profile – be engaged and watch your influence shoot through the roof!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Growing a new community is hard work and may not change people’s habits (socialmediatoday.com)
• How to build your following on social sites (solutionset.com)
• 10 Ways to Measure Social Media (howtospoter.com)

© 2010, Tiffany Odutoye (@virtualpartner). All rights reserved.

The world of social media is moving faster than most can keep up with. Today Twitter announced a shift in the way we traditionally find out who’s responded to our posts or referenced our avitar within a tweet.

So, if you’ve traditionally looked for the “at replies” listed as @replies get used to the new term “mentions” as Twitter is shifting to “@” followed by your avitar or username.

To learn more about the rationale read the Twitter blogpost: Replies Are Now Mentions.

© 2009, Tiffany Odutoye (@virtualpartner). All rights reserved.

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© 2009, Tiffany Odutoye (@virtualpartner). All rights reserved.