How to Behave in Moderation on Social Media?

hiddenknight821

The article, How to Behave Professionally on Social Media, hits every nail on the head despite how much I loathe the idea that we have to abandon our public profiles to protect our professional reputations.

I have been unemployed for about a year, and I wasn't actively looking for work until now. I realized my public Twitter account might have tarnished my reputation over the last several months because I didn't use an alias. The only "bad" things I did were swearing at obnoxious things I found on Twitter, making political statements, and jumping into controversial discussions. No inappropriate pictures of me were posted there. However, I was only being comical, and most of my tweets should be taken with grain of salts. I also retweet others' tweets which deemed controversial or inappropriate but funny. Some people would take it the wrong way as if I endorse them.

Oh how I hate the world much more now. I quitted Facebook a year ago, and now I have to quit Twitter. This is pushing me further back in insolation again, which isn't naturally healthy. How can professional people live with themselves if they can't be themselves but their professional alter egos on a daily basis? No one likes to text, have time to meet in persons, or make phone calls today. People find it more convenience to make mass distribution of their current statuses and expect their friends to know what's going on with them. No wonder we have more mental health issues nowadays.

I apologize about the rants, but I just wonder how do you guys cope with your social needs in our professional world, especially the younger folks in my generation?

DoubleNNs

Why not make your Twitter private? And make an alias. Maybe even change the e-mail address you have it under.

Just because you have a controversial Twitter doesn't mean every employer you apply to sees it. And if it's private, they won't be able to.

hiddenknight821

It's easier said than done. I hope it's not too late to make it private, since I don't know who or what is caching all that tweets I had. Is it worth keeping the same account or trash it and create a new one? And beside there is no such thing as absolute privacy as others are able to retweet protected tweets with third-party apps.

I know I sound really paranoid here, but I thought it'd be easier to forgo everything and find another way to cope with my social needs. Do you know if an email address linked to an account really makes a difference? Because I'd have to create another gmail account for public accounts, so that it doesn't trace back to me. An alias is not a bad idea, but again, I can't even mention my own name if someone doesn't recognize me. I'd have to send a tweet with my name in it. This pretty much defeats the purpose of making the account private. Beside, in Twitter world, protected accounts are shunned.

All hope is not lost here, but looks like I'd have to make some sacrifices temporarily until I get my foot in the door again. Then maybe I can finally get my real identity back online and make noises again.

Xyro

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Is it worth keeping the same account or trash it and create a new one?

Trash it

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Do you know if an email address linked to an account really makes a difference?

YES, it does.

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Then maybe I can finally get my real identity back online and make noises again.

I always advise people to simply not use their real identity online for a number of reasons. If you decide against remaining completely anonymous, I would then highly advise you to always stay on your "Ps & Qs".


As an added note:
Do not share the email address(es) you used to create the social media accounts with anyone.

DoubleNNs

You could always DM people and tell them who you are. Or you could always use your real picture, just don't use your real name anywhere on your profile. If needed, you could always change your profile pic later on when everyone you know in real life has followed you.

Create a new e-mail - keep it completely separate from your professional life. Use that e-mail for facebook/twitter.

Whereas people make fun of protected accounts, people who realize you're a professional and actively in the middle of a job search will understand. Most people I know protect their accounts until they are secure in their current positions, and even then never share their Twitter accounts w/ co-workers.

Facebook is another story - I know personally, I have a lot of family on their, so I make everything on my facebook PG and family friendly anyway. My twitter is where I vent and unleash my controversial sense of humor and connect w/ both real-life friends and people I've only interacted w/ thru tweets.

Right now, however, my twitter IS private. I don't know for how long, but until I find a job it will remain as such.

Roguetadhg

I keep my personal life on Facebook. It's private and non viewable and won't be for a job.

ChooseLife

XKCD's response to it:

xkcd: Dreams

Xyro

Dreams indeed... however, this is real life.

Master Of Puppets

I didn't like the one about not showing your abs.I still haven't seen an IT guy who looks like me(I'm sure there is) and I think it's pretty cool Thanks for sharing that with us, pretty helpful.

To answer the last question, I'm 19 and I'm probably not right in saying this but I do not place many restrictions on my online behavior - the only things are pictures where I show off my progress at the gym and quite a few slightly inappropriate photos of me with some girls. For the two jobs I applied they made note of that and even asked me some questions but I got offers from both of them because I had the qualifications and everything else they were looking for.

DoubleNNs

They made note of your profile pics and asked you questions about them?

What questions did they ask, exactly?

(And how much do you bench/squat/dead? Curious as I'm also starting to hit the gym heavy haha)

Master Of Puppets

Yes, I was surprised too.They said they need not only good professionals but also good people who would fit in with their team and some of the photos presented me in a questionable light(they were referring to the ones with the girls). So I guess I learned my lesson and I am going to start paying more attention to what I do because next time I may not get away with it. The point I was trying to make is that sometimes if you are what they are looking for, people may close their eyes to some provocative stuff on Facebook(if it is not something drastic).

I have always been in two minds when it comes to answering that question because people who don't know me think I'm on the juice A few times I had to go get tested to prove that nature and the fact that I really know what I'm doing is the reason why I bend the bars.However, I can PM you the numbers if you are interested . By the way you're doing a great thing, hitting the gym, respect.There are endless benefits to that.

73james

social media is such a helpful place to promote your self and can see result right away however on the other side of it it can ruin your reputation worse than you can imagine... quicker than how you promote your self . Not all people would understand how you behave your self on online public.

Master Of Puppets

Oh, sorry.I didn't fully answer your question.The exact things they asked me were:
Do you have a serious girlfriend?
Do you go to clubs and parties often?
And a few more in that field that were similar but I can't particularly remember.At first I didn't realize why they were asking because I have read that on some interviews they ask all sorts of things like that but later it hit me

lsud00d

I was an early adopter of FB because I was a freshman in college when it started...my school was one of the earlier to join the rounds and I remember VERY FEW people being on there. It was nothing like it is today and honestly there are times when I wish Zuckerberg stuck to his early promises of not opening it to the public and only being a college thing.

Luckily I had the foresight to see through this and even though most of my pictures involve partying in some capacity (because when else do people actually take pictures when you're in college?!), I have always had security enabled on my account. It is your brand to an extent, and you need to protect it.

To extend that, I anticipate always working somewhere that is cultural. I don't have a desire to work directly for the government. Private sector 4 lyfe. Party on Wayne. Party on Garth.

PurpleIT

This is exactly why I have security set on my Facebook account so I portray myself to anonymous people the way I want to be portrayed. My profile picture is fairly generic (same one I use on LinkedIn), almost nothing it viewable by anyone other than friends, but you will see pictures of my family that give a very wholesome and perhaps somewhat generic image of me.

When I start my job hunt in about 2 months I will review all of this and edit as necessary.

RoyalRaven

Quit facebook a while back.
Never used/plan on using twitter.

Problem solved. Life is better.

the_Grinch

This is why you need to do periodic searches on yourself to see what's what.

olaHalo

I do not have a facebook, twitter, myspace or whatever else people use. I never had one.
I do have a linkedin though for obvious reasons.
I see those sites a waste of my time.

tech_stone

Sadly is seems its only California recieving the love in restricting what employers can do with what is on social media websites. Hiddenknight821 I understand your frustration as the whole point of social media is to express how you feel.

SwitchingGears

Great topic. It wasn't but four years ago that the thought of putting up a real picture of myself, online and in public, seemed odd. Not just odd, but strange and even scary. Even stranger, now it has come full-circle and whenever I can't find a pic of a person, online, I think...how odd, who doesn't have their pic online? lol

HK821, you are addressing a very real issue. In fact, I run a successful niche business centered around online identities - and who's looking at them.

Just recently I read a decent article about "erasing" yourself from the Internet. Can you erase yourself from the internet? | Analysis | Features | PC Pro

Can it be done? Not in my opinion, but the article and other similar types raise awareness to the downfalls of putting up too much info.

Recognizing your level of exposure is a great first step. Like others have said, use multiple FB accounts, or even have a dummy account, fully functioning and loaded with friends, but carefully populated with vanilla type posts. That way, you can say "Yup, I have an account." In the meantime, set up another account with your pic, maybe your first name and a nickname or middle initial. If your new profile is so undercover that others will not friend you - take the extra step of sending them a message, explaining what you are doing, and your concerns.

Are recruiters, potential employers and existing employers looking at your social media? Of course they are. they look and make snap judgments based on posts or even a simple profile pic. Are they allowed to do that? Maybe, maybe not, but be assured, they will never admit to doing it.

In my experience, it's your email address that will hang you. If I can get your email addy, then sometimes it can be turned into a username. In fact, many times a person's email address will double as their username, or contain the majority of their "username" sans the @domain extension. For example, your email addy might be "joe_sneaky1@aol.com", but even a novice sleuth will be sharp enough to search under "joe_sneaky."

If somebody, like your employer, finds your username - say for example, like on this site....then they own your tail. People pop off under usernames, not on FB under their real name (at least, not usually).

Another thing to ponder is the fact privacy is gone. It really is and we must move on. Google knows more, or can learn more about a person in a month, than the FBI can learn about you in a year using wiretaps, warrants etc. And that's straight from an FBI regional director's mouth, not second-hand fluff. Google keeps everything.

Lastly, there's a reason I don't plug my site. That's because it will be forever tied to my username on this site, or any other forum, or blog that I visit. And with enough research on my posts, this username could be turned into another username and the list goes on, until eventually somebody could figure out my online identity, and then turn it into me, the real person. Nothing to be worried about, I just don't want existing clients know that I'm changing professions.

Paranoid, no. Hk821, you're using your head

hiddenknight821

Roguetadhg wrote: »

I keep my personal life on Facebook. It's private and non viewable and won't be for a job.

Haha. Who in their right mind would use Facebook for job?

ChooseLife wrote: »

XKCD's response to it:

xkcd: Dreams

Well said! Can't be any more specific than that. That's exactly how I feel. Too bad it's too soon for me to give you a +1 on this.

the_Grinch wrote: »

This is why you need to do periodic searches on yourself to see what's what.

The problem with that is my name is so common. I don't know what they could find that I might've missed. When I narrowed it down, it's what I expected since I made those profile public. Still, I'm not sure what I may have overlooked.

olaHalo wrote: »

I do not have a facebook, twitter, myspace or whatever else people use. I never had one.
I do have a linkedin though for obvious reasons.
I see those sites a waste of my time.

That's great as long as you still have true friends who'll still kick it with you. I don't locally as we drifted apart after high school. I got to have my social needs, and the social network was the only thing that bring us together.

SwitchingGears wrote: »

Paranoid, no. Hk821, you're using your head

Well, the funny thing is that I'm not as paranoid as I was on the day I made this thread. Looks like I'm already screwed as I linked my accounts to my emails that I do not plan on getting rid of in the near future, and I'm not scared one bit anymore.


I just can't entertain the idea of molding myself to someone else's expectation 24/7 yet. I have no problem being "fake" at the workplace, but what I do at my own time is my business. Beside, my account handle is actually my real name. I was hoping I could become one of those "down to earth" recognized individuals one day but that's just a silly notion right now. I just figured it's a lose-lose situation even when I become somewhat famous, because people will probably respect me for my and experience professionalism. I can't ever go back to my old happy self once that happen. Otherwise, my reputation would go down the toilet very fast anyway. I just had this discussion with someone and they told me I need to look down ahead in the road and decide whether I'll regret the stuff I have been posting lately or not. I figured I have no regret. As long as I don't do things that most normal people wouldn't do, then I think I'll be fine. Definitely no drugs are involved. No doubt drugs kill a person's career pretty fast.

The worst type of leadership power anyone can have is formal power such as coercive, reward, and legitimate powers. They don't last long. My best bet is to wield the power of knowledge like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. So, I'm gonna stop typing now and go back to study.

ChooseLife

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Well said! Can't be any more specific than that. That's exactly how I feel.

DoubleNNs

The thing w/ e-mail addresses is that you sign up for most online services using an e-mail address.

There are options to find "friends" online by searching using an e-mail address. You don't need to know the name they signed up under or the username, but if you can link them w/ an e-mail address you can fidn their profiles. Same w/ phone numbers - many people have their fbs linked to their phone contacts. This sync goes both ways and people can find your profile if they have your phone number.

It seems best to keep personal and business stuff separate. Use a business e-mail. Use a nickname for personal. Use a business cell phone if you need to.

hiddenknight821

I learned that the hard way when I created a Facebook account for Spotify's sake after I deactivated my real account. I didn't want to reactivate my real account. Somehow, my old junk email account linked me to my ex-girlfriend. I forgot I had some old email correspondences with her with that account. Now every time I log in Facebook with it, I always see her and her mutual friends in the suggestion list, but I'm not even friends with anyone on it for the obvious reason. I just wish we can wipe out the Internet one day and start all over again with what we know now.

Anonymouse

I keep all of my social media accounts private. I make sure not to add anyone from work to any social media friend list until we aren't working together anymore. That is except LinkedIn. You're not going to find me unless I message you first pretty much. Now let's say I applied to work at Google or Facebook I bet they'd be able to track me down pretty fast.