Social Media Management

How do you manage your social media presence? Do you? If you're here, reading this blog, the answer is probably yes, or at least, you are interested in managing your social media presence.

It's not as obvious a question as it seems, I think. Not everyone out there puts much thought into their online presence, though that is changing as there are more and more high profile stories about social media and the impact it has on our personal and professional lives. The impact of Facebook goes far beyond ensuring you stay updated on Aunt Marge's latest kitty pictures, adorable though Whiskers may be.

I think most of us by now have heard the online hype about employers asking for your facebook passwords, and I think this practice is not exactly widespread, despite all the attention it has received. Certainly here in Canada, I've never personally heard of anyone using this practice, and I would hope I don't- this is a terrible hiring practice. As an employer, it would be pretty difficult to defend against allegations of discrimination on the basis of legally protected grounds if it were shown that I had demanded someone's Facebook password and in doing so, found out about a pregnancy, say, or religious status, national origin, sexual orientation, etc. You get the idea. These things are iffy enough if you merely google a prospective candidate's name to see what comes up.

The social media minefield is an issue no matter what side of the employee/employer divide you happen to be on, and, to mix my metaphors, the waters are murky at best. As an employer, you need to be careful about what you look up when, and as an employee or a candidate, you need to watch what you put out there for the world to see, because even if it's not exactly a best practice to demand access to your Facebook or other social media accounts, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't going to happen. So what do you do, especially when we're hearing more and more about how those individuals without facebook accounts aren't to be trusted? (See a recent forbes article here about this.) I don't know.

Personally, I keep my Facebook private. I am searchable, but only my name and picture, because my Facebook account is strictly for personal use. You can find me quite easily on LinkedIn and Twitter, because that's professional, and intended to be public. Even with Facebook, though, I do try to monitor what I post. I always keep in mind that this is the internet, and there is never a guarantee of anonymity, and you can never be sure that something you've written is really gone, even after you hit delete. It means I have no problem adding my boss on Facebook- but then, I don't really post much there anyway. That's the balance that I've found, and it seems to work for me. I've also heard of people with multiple Facebook accounts as well, and that seems to work for them. I don't think there's one right answer- just think about whatever you do.

What do you do?