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07.03.09
How to Screw Yourself Up on Social Networking in No Time Flat
Have you heard any of these?
* A guy who works part time for the Eagles Football team updates his status report by saying something to the effect that the Eagles suck due to a trade they made. The Eagles fire him.
* A woman gets a job offer from Cisco. She tweets “Got a job offer from Cisco. Now have to decide between a fatty paycheck versus a long commute and hating my job.” One of Cisco channel partners sees it on Twitter and comments. I didn’t hear how it turned out but I’m fairly certain Cisco rescinded the job offer. (And chances are she’s going to have a heck of a time finding another job since this story was all over the place to such an extent it will take awhile to get it out of Google.)
* A guy who I think is the agency owner travels to the headquarters of one of his biggest customers for a presentation (ironically on social networking). He tweets an unflattering tweet about the city where his client is headquartered. The employees spot it, call him on it and he ultimately loses the account.
I’m sure there are more of these stories, but you get my point. Social networking can give you credibility, visibility, leads and can help grow your business. It can also lose you jobs and customers.
So what do these stories have in common? Simple — the person forgot social networking was public.
And that’s the point of today’s article. What you do on social networking is public.
Now, I know that sounds obvious but, like most obvious things, it gets overlooked. And it’s easy to see why. I mean, half the time (or even more) you get no response to things you do on Twitter or Facebook. So it’s easy to start thinking no one’s watching.
And the moment you slip and think no one is watching, no one cares, that’s when it bites you. You think you can say whatever you want, and you do. Only to discover much to your dismay that people really ARE paying attention.
The same thing that makes social networking such a powerful networking tool is the same thing that can ruin you. Remember, your biggest strength is your biggest weakness. And that’s true here as well. The power social networking has to get your name out there in a big way can also replicate your unfortunate choice of tweets or posts in a big way and ruin your reputation faster than you can say “to tweet or not to tweet.”
Now, I’m not saying you should run scared of social networking. This isn’t about you agonizing over every comment, tweet, post, etc. you put out there. This is about being smart. It’s about never forgetting you’re dealing in a public arena and people are paying attention, even if there are days where you wonder where all that social networking love went.
And if you DO screw up and say something you shouldn’t? Well, depending on what exactly it was, you might have to do some damage control, and/or just come to grips you’ve put a black mark on your reputation and have to do some cleaning up. You CAN come back, it might not be easy or fun, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world either.
Bryan Waldon Pope said,
July 3, 2009 at 4:07 pm UTC
Michele,
I chuckled the whole time I read this. I’ve seen so many similar situations. What are people thinking? Thanks for putting this on the table for all to see. After all, it’s public.
BWP
Kathy Colaiacovo said,
July 3, 2009 at 7:33 pm UTC
Michele… great stories! Number one rule on social networking – no matter what venue/channel you are on – is that you are speaking publicly, if you wouldn’t say it to someone face to face then keep quiet. If you need to vent go write your thoughts on a piece of paper, tear it up and chuck it out.
Thanks for the post!
Kathy
Kathy Smith said,
July 3, 2009 at 7:36 pm UTC
Thanks, Michelle. Good points for sure. It’s so easy to “hide” behind the Internet platforms we use to connect with people, thinking that it’s the same as sitting in a crowd at a football stadium: “There are thousands of ‘strangers’ here, who’s really going to notice what I say?”
And I think some people forget the operative word “social” in social networking. Imagine if some of your social networking contacts were with you at a live networking event or you were all gathered at an office mixer with the business next door. Would you take the risk of saying something potentially damaging in that setting?
Kathy Smith said,
July 3, 2009 at 7:38 pm UTC
Then again, I just spelled your name incorrectly! Oh my…
Michele PW said,
July 3, 2009 at 8:54 pm UTC
I was going to edit your other comment so my name was spelled correctly, but this was just too perfect with what I was talking about
No worries, many many peeps spell my name wrong. But I got a kick out this.
Kathy Smith said,
July 4, 2009 at 6:31 am UTC
Ah yes, leave it to me to put my virtual foot in my mouth.
Happy to have inadvertently further illustrated the point for you. By the way, I don’t see a way to include my photo with my comments – then again do I want to do that now? Tee hee…
Karma Kitaj said,
July 4, 2009 at 7:36 am UTC
Thanks for your reminders of how people can get into trouble on FB/Twitter, etc. The other thing that annoys me is people writing messages that use in-jokes, using lots of exclamation points or CAPS, writing about topics that don’t do justice to who they are. If you want to convey a message that is going to convey trust, let people get to know about your expertise and good judgment, and also show your authenticity, is this a way to do it?
Beth said,
July 4, 2009 at 11:12 am UTC
The article on social networking is timely and well-written. Interestingly, while reading it all I could think about was how the same things that apply to social networking also apply to integrity in one’s life. Whether anyone is looking or not or whether we will be found out we should always follow our values and be persons of integrity. And when we make mistakes we should own up to them right away. People get tripped up by their bad habits and lack of clear values- you gave good clear examples of it in your article. “And the moment you slip and think no one cares, no one is watching, that’s when it bites you.” So true and this is one reason why we are having so many problems in our world right now. All that you said is not only true about social networking and our personal lives but holds true in business as well. Thanks for sharing your valuable insights with your readers.
Valerie Reed said,
July 4, 2009 at 12:29 pm UTC
I came across this another blog post that is a great example of how this can effect your personal life as well. It’s actually turns out to be quite charming even though it is also a reminder that nothing online is private. Enjoy!
http://www.erinjackson.net/blog/2009/06/28/is-nothing-sacred/