Facebook Fail.
We’ve all heard horror-stories about people getting fired — or never even hired — thanks to overzealous Facebooking and/or Tweeting. There’s Dooce-gate, the Cisco Fatty, and this unfortunate(ly dumb) Brit. Stories with warnings about being Facebook friends with your boss have been written a thousand times now.
But here’s a more intriguing question: Let’s say you’re not stupid enough to get yourself fired via your social networks — if using the web is part of your job, how do you separate your personal life from your professional life?
Let’s look at it in terms of control, then functionality.
Facebook:
Control: For as much noise there is about Facebook’s sketchy privacy policies, they at least give you more privacy control options than most other social networking sites out there. Since it’s also older and one of the most popular networking sites, odds are good that when you joined Facebook, it was for personal use.
Functionality: Facebook was founded with the mission statement: “To better help you stalk that hot chick in the first row of your freshman chemistry class.” Or something like that. Now, it’s evolved into a vector for crappy e-games like Mafia Wars and “Which (insert cartoon, tv, color, flavor of bubble gum, movie character here) are you?” quizzes.
Bottom line: Keep your Facebook to yourself. If you’re a bedroom-musician and are creating your own fan page, great. If you have a website or company you work for and want to try to share with your friends, go for it. If your boss at McDonald’s sends you a friend request, let ‘em rot in Facebook purgatory.
Twitter:
Control: Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending the first annual BoCo, a tech, music and food conference in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. Everyone talked about how useful Twitter can be when used to organically grow the brand of a small, medium or even large business. Twitter has blown up into a huge marketing tool. But it’s marketing tools (tools, as in the type of dudes that spike their hair through their 50s, use spray-on tanner, etc.) that detract from its greatness. You can follow anybody on Twitter. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
Functionality: Twitter isn’t quite the bastion of friend collecting glory Facebook is. Instead, it’s more about what you’re able to share: Glimpses into your daily life…frustrations of a flight delay…a cool new website or funny link. A lot of people represent their companies on Twitter. Even if they don’t, it’s easy to connect the dots and know what someone does.
Bottom line: So how can you use Twitter without being a Cisco Fatty? Keep it light, but keep it professional. Your Tweets can be “Googled” pretty easily. People that have made embarrassing mistakes on Twitter have a hard time papering over the cracks. But Twitter is really what you make of it. You want to Tweet every time you fart? Done. You want to promote your business? Take a page from successful, small local businesses and Tweet deals, sales, or new ice cream flavors like Sweet Action in Denver.
Imagine yourself interviewing for an internship or job. Would your heart sink if the interviewer asked to see your Facebook profile? Your Twitter page? Well, at some point you should be able to say, “Well, my personal Facebook page is just that — personal. But I’d be happy to share my InternInc.com profile and network with you.” That’s at least one part of what InternInc.com is all about. LinkedIn is basically an online resume. Facebook is essentially an online yearbook. InternInc.com will hopefully bridge the two and help better define the boundaries between personal and professional networking.
Stalkers’ Delight: Facebook Allowing Users to Share Their Location
Facebook stalking just got literal! Wee!
Facebook is set to “let” users publish their location, just as you and 400 million other users update your status, photos, Farmville fences and chickens, etc. Remember that privacy policy update back in November? Well, pay attention to this line:
“When you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post.” It’s unclear as of now how much control users will have in how location information will be published. There will be location features directly through Facebook, as well as through third-party developers with Facebook’s API.
Basically: Facebook wants to start to compete with Google for small, targeted local business advertising. And they’re willing to jeopardize your privacy, much less your safety, to do so. The feature is expected to be rolled out in April after f8, Facebook’s annual conference.
Hey, Twitter! I'm away from home, come take my stuff!
If Please Rob Me based on Twitter’s API is any indication of the good things to come, Facebook’s location tool should be just dandy.
Remember that one creepy guy from high school that friended you even though you haven’t spoken to him ever or laid eyes on him (intentional or not) in years?! Well now, instead of simply stalking you via your Spring Break photo albums, he can just come on down to the beach with his X-ray binoculars and piano wire! Thanks Facebook!