Parker’s last post raised a question I have been toiling with for some time: what do I do with my Facebook page?
I joined Facebook in my last year at McGill in 2004. At that time, only students from certain post-secondary schools were able to join; I mostly interacted with friends from US because of the inception at Harvard. (For a more thorough historical account, click here.)
At that time, the site served a redundant purpose alongside Friendster, its more dominant cousin.
We all know the story since then. Particularly over the summer of 2007, it seemed as though everyone I knew was suddenly Facebooking. In addition to connecting with distant friends, it quickly became the primary mode of communication for my local network: organizing birthday parties, starting groups based on jokes, and uploading shameful pictures.
Then I entered the world of Public Relations.
Suddenly, I began acquiring professional contacts through the site and suddenly, my profile seemed ill-suited as a résumé.
Most recently, I acquired a mentor through the CPRS program. Excitedly, I looked up my mentor and saw that she was on Facebook. Before adding her, however, I hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s the kind of contact you should have on Facebook,” murmured one friend. Another friend echoed those sentiments, “Be careful who you add.”
So, how do I reconcile the fact that my social life on Facebook preceded my professional life?
I have de-tagged unsavory photos and removed (most) contentious jokes. I have considered limiting profile access for professional contacts, but that seems shady and duplicitous. I have also thought about having two different profiles: Workjess, meet Partyjess.
I welcome any suggestions you may have. Shall I add my mentor?
Thanks for reading BlogCampaigning, guys!
- Jess
Tags: Facebook, Professionalism, Social Media
Great comments Jess!
I think you should add your mentor. After all, PR is about transparency. Maybe all you need to do is spend a little time and manage your profile. Think about key messaging: ‘how do I want to be perceived?’ The only problem is that Facebook will become one more thing to look after and one less thing that you enjoy…
Speaking as a professor — you’re right to think before you add. One former student who friended me puts up pictures of herself drinking, video of foolish bar behavior, etc. which is not only content I don’t care to see but illegal because of her age. This is why I don’t friend my students (although I accept if they initiate it).
Having two different profiles in Facebook is completely legit way to deal with this. You have a social life and you have a work life. The goals of these are separate. The first one is about sharing your experiences with your friends. The second is about advancing professionally. There is no reason why you couldn’t have some of your friends on both pages.
As for me, I don’t put anything on Facebook I wouldn’t want my boss or mother to see. Once information is out on the web, it has a funny way of showing up in surprising ways. I assume stuff online is completely public and act accordingly.
Thanks for the comments, guys. I’m still ruminating on what to do. Eric, I think you’re right about transparency. Maybe I’ll just manage my Facebook profile carefully.
TeachingPR, you offer great advice for my mentor situation. Maybe I’ll just leave it for now and wait for the relationship to dictate the next action.
Josh, I appreciate your advice about the web in general. I think your boss/mother rule is spot on.
Jess, this is a great post on a topic I have been pondering for some time now. I got to thinking about this subject after an in-class discussion on Facebook and how listing your employer information on your Facebook automatically enlists you as an ambassador of that company. I hadn’t ever really thought much about using Facebook as a professional tool until that moment…
When I first joined Facebook about a year ago I used it primarily to reconnect with long-lost friends and acquaintances, plan parties and post the photographic evidence of said parties the next morning. However, now that my entire kindergarten class is on my friends’ list, the majority of my new “friends”, if you will, are contacts from my part-time Corporate Communications studies, my job, CPRS (aside: I am also a part of their mentoring program) and volunteering, and all of a sudden those pictures of me dancing on a table don’t look so cute any more.
Like yourself, I cleaned house. I untagged any unsavory photographs, made sure I actually made mention of things like public relations and communications in my interests (not just fabulous shoes and outrageous handbags as I had previously listed) and got rid of all of those silly surveys that ask you what you’re wearing and who the last person you kissed was in an effort to integrate the professional me with the personal me on my Facebook profile.
As mentioned above I suppose you always have the option of the dual-Facebook profile, but I think if you put a little thought in to it you can successfully integrate both sides of yourself in to one. After all, both parts are an important part of your personal brand, are they not?
Post Script: I also agree with the Boss/Mother rule mentioned above… and my boss just happens to be a Facebook contact and so it never fails.
Jess,
Remember the power of Search. Corporations can’t hide things online. And neither can you.
Don’t think of it as PartyJess and WorkJess. Think of it as JessThen and JessNow. We change (and mature over time.) People of my generation are haunted by pictures with full beards and shoulder length hair. But there’s no point in trying to destroy them or hide them. They just are who we were.
What counts in any professional situation is the person you are now and the way you act now.
So, I suggest that you simply go about being who you are and don’t try to rewrite the past.
Sound advice all around, everyone. I really appreciate it.
Amanda and Joseph, your posts solidified my decision to keep one profile. I think it remains closer to the social end of the social-professional continuum, but it also shows a 360˚ life.
I don’t think it should take too much management, but I cannot promise that I won’t remain somewhat paranoid. Maybe paranoia is an emotional by-product of instant communication technology.
I find those kinds of ideas interesting: how communication technology affects us psychologically.
One of my friends always talks about people looking at their phones to see if they’ve missed a call. When we do this, we are reaching out to the world and expressing a desire to communicate. Apparently, this is the modern version of existential alienation.
I’ll keep you posted on how the Facebook profile goes.
- Jess