So, you’ve worked hard at creating a great online presence. You never use “bad” language in your posts, you don’t provide too much information, your Grandmother would approve of your personal posts, and you’re posting about relevant information for your industry. But, you somehow feel that “something is wrong” with your online presence.
Take a look at who you’re connected with…and what they are posting.
In many ways, social media turns all of us into 8th graders. We are who we associate with—whether in the real world or online. You may have an outstanding online reputation, but if your social media contacts are posting about less than savory subjects, the assumption is that you feel that way, too, even if you’re not posting about it. After all, if you didn’t have the same beliefs as they do, you wouldn’t be connected to them, right? Birds of a feather do flock together…or at least that’s the assumption many jump to.
When someone looks at your posts and your profile, what will they find? You have to be diligent about what’s being posted—especially when it directly applies to you.
Be especially careful about who tags you in their posts, including photos. I recently saw that a Friend had been tagged in their Friend’s photos. Naturally, I was curious, so I clicked to see what the photos were about. Boy, was I surprised! The people in the photos were clearly very drunk, some were smoking a bit of the wacky weed and I saw exposed body parts that I really hadn’t wanted to see!
The Friend in question is extremely professional. He’s someone I’ve known for several years. More importantly, he wasn’t in any of the photos. His buddy had tagged him because he thought it was funny. Unfortunately, my Friend was up for a promotion and he was Friends with his boss…who didn’t think the photos were funny at all.
The easiest way around this is to set your own Privacy settings so that you have to approve it when someone tags you. Unfortunately, my Friend didn’t know this and it cost him a promotion.
Now, many people argue that we have different personalities when we’re online, and it shouldn’t matter at all who we’re friends with—in the real world or online. I understand why they think that, but I do think that it matters.
I’d love to get your thoughts on this. Am I off-base or spot on? Please comment below!
Deb, to answer your question directly, you are spot on. We’re easily judged by the company we keep, despite what our true natures might be. And with social media, tagging as you describe in your blog may not really signify “keeping company”; it just looks that way.
Many of us have probably experienced someone tagging us inappropriately. I had someone who tagged me several times in pretty extreme political cartoons. I’d untag, and he’d tag me again in another cartoon. After a couple of times, I contacted him to say that whether or not I agreed with the cartoon, it wasn’t something I wanted showing up connected to me. He responded that he’d tagged me “because he wanted to make sure I saw the cartoons.” I politely told him this was inappropriate…and unFriended him! My online reputation is just as important to me as my offline one – especially because many of my online connections are also business associates in the real world. It’s always wise to be vigilant.
This statement is correct in so many ways. It is in real life as well as the digital life who you know and have associations with labels you. As for me I try to keep my contacts in both places clean and non-judgemental.
Thanks…and for those of you reading this, it comes from someone who’s known me since Elementary School! It just goes to show that relationships cross over from both online and real life and can do so in significant – and long-lasting – ways.