Comments on: Professionalism and Social Media

By: Ryan Albrey

Ryan Albrey — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 06:18:05 +0000

I would agree that professionalism is important but I would disagree that it is paramount at all times. I had a tense conversation with a client recently in which they wanted me to be more “professional” with their facebook page. I explained that while professionalism is important, on social media being engaging, interesting and friendly is often more important and that sometimes professionalism gets in the way of that.

To build your presence on social media, especially if you are starting from scratch, it is important to capture attention. Professional is often a synonym for serious and being serious all the time is not the best way to be interesting and engaging and to capture the attention of would be fans or followers.

Of course obviously these things change from industry to industry. “Professional” becomes paramount if you are representing a large corporate organisation that already has a big reputation to maintain.

By: pswiergosz

pswiergosz — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:50:50 +0000

Great post Dawn. Right on point.

Adding on to your comment about personal accounts: “that doesn’t mean that the things we post on our personal accounts don’t have consequences in our professional lives.”

While you may not get fired for comments you make via your personal social media profiles, you may make it a lot harder to find a job down the road. Almost every HR rep Googles the people they interview.

Not only will they be looking at your online resume, etc., to cross-reference your qualifications, but also whether you display the traits of a mature professional with sound judgment.

When they search you, will they find professional representations of you and your work? Or will they find photos on your Facebook wall of you doing tequila shots at your birthday party?…

Great article on Mashable that compliments this post quite well: http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/job-seekers-social-media-future/

By: Therese Pope

Therese Pope — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:48:40 +0000

Great topic! Ironically, I just posted a similar post on my blog today called “Why It’s Time to Give Up Toxic Gossip in the Professional World. http: zenfulcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-it-time-to-give-up-toxic-gossip-in.html These are FANTASTIC tips! My biggest pet peeve is the unprofessional “professionals” who post harassing, negative and caustic remarks/posts on my LinkedIn groups. People need to stop acting so juvenile on social media. The Earth Class Mail example is a classic example of how completely unprofessional people act on Twitter. I’m a freelance copywriter and online marketing consultant, and I can’t believe the horrible things I read on some of my LI groups. How are these people actually maintaining a client base and/or even landing clients? I wouldn’t hire them based on their LI comments alone.

By: Stephen G. Barr

Stephen G. Barr — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:08:58 +0000

Excellent advise! I advise clients to always assume that everything they post anywhere regardless if in a password protected private forum will be read by everyone on the net.

By: Jamie Northrup

Jamie Northrup — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:11:49 +0000

Good Post Dawn, specially love the example from Earth Class Mail, seeing answers like that to a customer, makes you think the company isn’t serious, even if they are right, that is not the way to go about it.

By: Steven Howe

Steven Howe — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:55:02 +0000

Good list Dawn.

I would also add “avoid alcohol”.