I stumbled upon some dirty laundry being aired on a friends Facebook wall today and I was shocked to learn things about their current behavior. There are two sides to every story and I’m a firm believer that I have no right to pass judgement on anyone. But what this does make me conscious of is the fact that this is a public forum and what you say can be read by pretty much everyone. Friends, family, clients, employers etc can all read this and will certainly judge you by this. I certainly use platforms like Facebook and Twitter to find out more about the people I interview, work with or meet. So if I have any advice, it’s to be responsible of your social profile.
- Keep your password to yourself, you don’t want someone you might be fighting with posting stuff on your wall.
- Edit the things you say. What might seem funny in the moment might be perceived as something else by people who might not appreciate your special brand of humour
- Understand and set your privacy settings. If you’re going through some stuff, keep things private.
- Be responsible for your actions outside of social media, it’s easy for people who recognise you to spot you in the background in photos and drunken photos will not impress future employers as much as you think. People can also post on your wall or on their own, using your name will show up in all your friends walls.
- Monitor your accounts frequently to stay aware of your online reputation.
- If you are going to swear, make sure you sign up to @swearbox so that you can give donate to a worthy cause to make up for your bad language.