Should We Keep Personal and Professional Separate in Social Networking?
That’s the question I asked in today’s post on my blog – http://davidmullen.wordpress.com. It’s something I’ve been struggling with of late.
The concern is about items on sites like facebook, such as groups, affiliations and others that highlight stances on politics, religion, etc. Or maybe one of your friends writes something funny on your wall that offends a client or coworker. Things like that may cause a professional contact to look at you a bit differently. It shouldn’t be the case, but we’re humans and don’t live in a perfect world. We make presumptions about people, whether right or wrong.
So I decided to save facebook for my personal contacts and Linkedin and twitter for my professional connections. But I’ve noticed lately that a lot of fellow bloggers whom I respect have links to their facebook pages on their blogs and advocate growing your expanding networks through personal and professional contacts.
Should I rethink my assessment? Am I going about it the wrong way? Am I missing out on great exchange by not opening up facebook to professional contacts as well? What do you think?
Good Answers (6)
Elizabeth M
PR Pro with Strong Planning and Leadership Experience
Best Answers in: Branding (2), Event Marketing and Promotions (1), Professional Networking (1)
What an interesting question. Thanks for giving me something to ponder.
While I can (and have) made the argument for keeping personal and professional lives separate before, that's definitely not what networking - social or otherwise - is about. Networking is bringing parts of your life together and finding out how they enmesh with parts of other's lives. It's building relationships.
So much of what we do as marketers is built on how well we develop relationships. We're crafting messages for our publics, asking them to take on a relationship with our brands. It comes down to personal brand management.
The biggest account you ever win may end up being a frat brother with whom you went to college 20 years ago and you only see at weekend football games. If you didn't let those two worlds collide, that account would never be yours.
Regardless, you shouldn't be posting anything digitally that you don't mind taking credit for anywhere, in any part of your life. If you can't imagine talking to your boss or your significant other about something you've posted publicly, just don't post it. That's what a journal is for.
Amy Z
Out of Work Chicago Operations Director/B2B Sales
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I think that networking has changed so much and that the lines of personal and professional blur more and more each day. In a world where we are all trying to build sincere relationships with one another I don't think there is anything wrong with allowing your personal life to show through. I would like to think that most adults are evolved enough to realize that it is often our differences that make us unique and that just because we have a different view on something from someone else doesn't mean we can't agree on how to do business together. I enjoy knowing my clients and my vendors on a bit more personal level - it helps to build trust and loyalty.
At least for me, I am a the CEO of my company and blogging is a major part of what I do. If my clients don't see part of who I really am, I think I just lost them.
Maybe my company is unique in that I'm part of the community, designed the social network, and am a major player in it.
I firmly believe in the CEO playing a part in developing part of the personality of a company and how can you do that without exposing part of yourself?
For me, my business is my passion, and how can a passion be a separate part of myself?
Leo B
Independent Consultant/Adjunct Professor
Best Answers in: Public Relations (2), Customer Service (1), Direct Marketing (1), Business Development (1)
David, I think in many respects it's OK to let everyone know not only what you do, but who you are. Relationships, both personal and professional, are built on trust, which often involves revealing apsects of ourselves that make us human and make us more interesting. I'm not sure it's so much about keeping professional and personal separate as it is managing your public versus more private personna. Sharing images or information with close friends doesn't require posting it for the world to see. Consider what you post using social media tools to be like a tattoo. Think of it as permanent - something you'll be just as happy with 10 years from now as you are today. Everyone thinks of it differently, but that's my approach.
Thanks for the question David.
I think people are interested in the character of other people. Having it tends to draw others, while the lack of it tends to discourage relationship building. Of course character is who we are all the time, whether someone is looking or not, whether we are in our personal circles or in the conference room.
I would think business people would like to know what others believe in, stand for and to some extent are afraid of before they choose to do business with them, especially when there is a lot at stake. Of course there is almost always a lot at stake.
Perhaps it's not an issue of whether business and personal networking should be mixed, but whether we can choose to live in fear of what others think about us if they really know us.
Ironically, this question itself seems to blur the boundaries between the two circles, revealing some personal opinions in what is perceived to be a business forum.
Rastin M
rmd Studio Founder/Web Application Architect - Tazzu™ CoFounder/Director of Technology
Best Answers in: Web Development (3), Conference Planning (1), Public Relations (1), Change Management (1), Labor Relations (1)
You don't have to keep them separate. In fact many new generation entrepreneurs have built their businesses around their personal lives and hobbies therefore they don't have to keep the two separate.
Those who have roots in the traditional corporate environment still have to keep the 2 separate, because in those environments people are supposed to act, live, and behave in a certain conservative manner to remain competitive. Basically "You are what you hide"
In the new generation of business models that "you are what you share" the more people learn about you, the more competitive you become in the business world, and in fact some knowledge of your personal life can become a big seller on itself.
Privacy is different. I think it is a good idea not to have everything about yourself online, the beauty of the social networks privacy control system comes in when we can assign different privacy levels to our contacts and friends.
More Answers (10)
Michelle E
Marketing Services Manager, Grouse Mountain
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I strongly believe in keeping the two separate. I keep all my personal contacts on Facebook and all my business contacts within LinkedIn. On my blog is a link to both but I have also indicated Facebook is for personal connections and LinkedIn for business.
Now if you want to know if I think my personal blog should be accessible to business contacts, I'm torn. I like business connections to be able to get a glimpse into my personal life in order to see what kind of person I am, but I do wonder if a potential employer knowing my religious views, parenting style etc. is a hindrance to evaluating my skills objectively.
Luan V
Informix/Oracle, Unix, C/C++ Developer
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I like coffee, I like tea. But, that doesn't mean I should mix them in the same cup.
Deanna M
Part-time Programs & Communication Manager at Burlington Downtown Corporation
David, just like you have the two separate accounts (LinkedIn and Facebook) for the same reasons. With searches, it is inevitable that professional contacts are going to find me on Facebook and personal contacts on LinkedIn. I just have to monitor what I accept to be associated with my profile on any site.
It's an interesting question, but I'm not sure the answer to what I should do would make a difference in what I end up doing. Even if I did decide to build a wall between the professional and personal online, how would I handle it when a personal friend asks to Link to me, or when a professional contact asks to become a Facebook friend? Do I have to say no, and then explain why? Seems awkward and potentially off-putting on both sides. And in a relationship business, that's a killer. So I'll continue to keep it open, and just monitor to ensure that anything that is posted is appropriate for both parts of my life. The good news for me is that most of my friends these days are from my work life anyway. Or maybe that's the bad news... I'll have to think about that one.
David G
Marketing decision maker with 25 years of experience designing and executing marketing strategy and tactics
The whole concept only really works if you DON'T keep them separate. Keeping them separate is force-fitting an old paradigm into new technology designed to break it. Social networking and the sites designed to propagate it are all about blurring those lines...that said, choose your social networking sites wisely!
Jan S
Founder, Jan Simpson & Co,
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Wow - good question - let's see how I would answer this one - Just off the top of my head and nothing so profound is probably needed on this one -
Okay - got it - here we go -
Personal and Professional Accounts - I guess if I were a street drug dealer - I would want to keep my personal and professional life separate or if I was a navy seal - cause those professions are stressful in themselves, need to keep your lives secret and definitely need to keep professional and personal livies separate.
But for me - people I work/worked with are some of my best friends -and so I really don't need to keep them separate - these are people that could call me and say "you know I really need to vent or can I crash at your home" no problem on both accounts - and I would hate that they would feel that I had them one site and not the other - I think it would hurt their feelings - understand?
So I would say no - mix them up - you never know they might find a great opportunnity to network - oh my.
Jonathan B
Internet Marketing Specialist at Magicomm
Best Answers in: Blogging (3), Web Development (3), Positioning (1), Software Development (1)
A HUGE part of social media marketing is developing trust among your community. We're all human and should not try to portray ourselves as otherwise. I've found that this personal aspect betters relationships with clients and increases communication between all parties.
However there is an appropriate way we should present ourselves in public and this should be present across all of our social media identities.
I was just thinking about this today. When the internet for the masses was pretty young, I was in college. People used video cameras to connect over the internet, but there were no camera phones and not enough people used the internet to make concern about online identity a real concern.
I think the merging of personal and professional life can have more of a negative impact if you are younger. And depending on your relatives. If you sincerely want to put a wall between your most intimate personal life online you will need to take extra steps to stay anonymous. Simply using Facebook or MySpace for personal and LinkedIn for professional sides of your life won't cut it.
Good luck keeping them separate.
One check of google and you will find, my band, my career and my posts, tweets and feeds.
I'd like to think you will pay attention to the professional parts if you are checking me out for business. But if I have written an offensive song and posted unprofessional party pics on my blog, well... good luck and trying to cover that up, or deleting it. Ever!
If you put it on the web, it is stored somewhere. So that website you started back in high school with your buddies. 10 years later your name may still be associated with those silly posts you traded with your pals.
The separation between personal and professional profiles is a dangerous illusion.
With the interconnectivity and the ability to "google" anyone anytime, I'm not sure that it makes an iota of difference one way or the other.
