Eliminating Our Split Personalities Online
Saturday, December 24, 2011 by Larissa Fair
We all know that social media is not a fad, but there is a still a strong number of people who see it as a trend that they either don’t have the capacity to get involved, or they find it overwhelming to the point of hiring someone else to do it for them. 2012 will mark a change in this mentality as it becomes even more of an integral part of our everyday lives and a distinct part of our personal identities. Those who simply refuse because they didn’t know how will begin to learn that they are missing out on expanding their social circles, connecting with other people and learning things that relate to their jobs and/or hobbies. It’s not about learning what their friends had to eat for breakfast.
While social media goes more mainstream, a lot of people are going to be faced with the dilemma of how to balance work self versus private self online. It is time to give up that battle. You are only doing yourself a disservice by trying to keep them apart. Everyone has an online brand whether they personally work to create one or not. Anything you post on Facebook either on your “professional” profile or “personal” profile is online and, therefore will at some time be searchable online. You should never assume that anything you put online is going to stay private. So, why should you spread yourself out and create two separate brands? Be you no matter where you are because people want to connect with you, not just a version of you. Social media will continue to grow because humans want to connect with each other. Give your friends and your “friends” the opportunity to know the whole you, and if that makes you uncomfortable, then maybe you shouldn’t be sharing everything online.
Keep yourself sane by limiting the amount of time you spend updating one profile over the other. Know that if you can Google your name plus the name of your company and there are results, then you have now merged your personal brand with the company brand. This is a hard pill to swallow for both executives and employees, but a reality we all must realize. Think about that tweet and how it reflects on your company. Think about that video you are posting on Facebook- does it reflect your brand? It is an expression of who you are? Would your company be offended by it?
These are our lives and we must be thoughtful in all we do. It makes sense that as we become more of ourselves online, that we must also take some of it back. Keep some of your life private and offline, so that it isn’t shared. That’s the part of your life that’s just yours. You can still be you, but just not the whole big picture-that’s what email is for.
Guest post by Mandy Stahl, Community Manager at ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, part of a series of predictions for 2012.
Connect with Mandy on Twitter www.twitter.com/mandydc or on Facebook www.facebook.com/mandystahl.
While social media goes more mainstream, a lot of people are going to be faced with the dilemma of how to balance work self versus private self online. It is time to give up that battle. You are only doing yourself a disservice by trying to keep them apart. Everyone has an online brand whether they personally work to create one or not. Anything you post on Facebook either on your “professional” profile or “personal” profile is online and, therefore will at some time be searchable online. You should never assume that anything you put online is going to stay private. So, why should you spread yourself out and create two separate brands? Be you no matter where you are because people want to connect with you, not just a version of you. Social media will continue to grow because humans want to connect with each other. Give your friends and your “friends” the opportunity to know the whole you, and if that makes you uncomfortable, then maybe you shouldn’t be sharing everything online.
Keep yourself sane by limiting the amount of time you spend updating one profile over the other. Know that if you can Google your name plus the name of your company and there are results, then you have now merged your personal brand with the company brand. This is a hard pill to swallow for both executives and employees, but a reality we all must realize. Think about that tweet and how it reflects on your company. Think about that video you are posting on Facebook- does it reflect your brand? It is an expression of who you are? Would your company be offended by it?
These are our lives and we must be thoughtful in all we do. It makes sense that as we become more of ourselves online, that we must also take some of it back. Keep some of your life private and offline, so that it isn’t shared. That’s the part of your life that’s just yours. You can still be you, but just not the whole big picture-that’s what email is for.
Guest post by Mandy Stahl, Community Manager at ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, part of a series of predictions for 2012.
Connect with Mandy on Twitter www.twitter.com/mandydc or on Facebook www.facebook.com/mandystahl.
Comments for Eliminating Our Split Personalities Online
- Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Jeffrey Cufaude:
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What’s interesting to me is that the core issue—what do I share and with whom—is not tied uniquely to social media. We make different aspects of our “self” public and keep others more private all the time in our face-to-face interactions depending on the context, the relationships involved, and other considerations. (see Johari’s Window). The social media dimension just prompts us to consider how might answer this question in a different way.
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Larissa Fair
Larissa is a Senior Marketing Manager at Avectra and is the project management lead on all corporate events, tradeshows, and corporate social media activities (including this blog). She also manages general marketing campaigns, vertical marketing, and communications/PR.
In addition to her professional duties, Larissa is a cooking and food aficionado, with a passion for baking, photography and Tex-Mex cuisine. Her greatest party trick is her amazing memory for people, places and things and her directional sense. Some say that while she drives like a cabbie, at least she doesn't get lost since it's like she has a Google map in her head.
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