RSS
Home
7 ways to keep your job and stay social
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The internet plays a big part in our daily lives. Along with that fact thoug, we have always had to be a bit cautious with it as well. Especially when it comes to our jobs. In the late 90's to our current decade, email has always been a double edged sword. Email makes our work lives easier really. We no longer have to call or be called over a minor thing. We get an email and we fix it when we can. However some like to use email to send cute pictures and jokes, but not always work friendly. Corporations have very strict policies about work email though, and I have known a lot of people who have lost their jobs for sharing inappropriate emails in the work place.
But now companies look outside of email. Social Networking has become the new email. Nearly every one uses it, and sometimes we forget that others can see it. I myself lost a great career due to silly posts made on my own personal time. A client saw a post on site and commented, and I went off on the person. I had no way of knowing that this was a client though. Unfortunately this lead to my immediate termination at a former job. So I am going to share with you some tips on protecting yourself to keep this same thing from happening to you.
1. Most services have privacy functions to them. If you don't want unapproved people seeing your post then make sure to set your privacy settings.
2. Don't link your sites. The more sites you link together, the higher chance of something getting out there. I love ping.fm, but if you have forgotten to set privacy settings, you may be up a creek and not even realize it.
3. Be careful of who you allow to follow you. Sure, you may be building your brand. But try to do some research or message the person before allowing them to see your updates. You never know if this is some one actually trying to find something on you so they can get you fired. May even be your boss. The last thing you want is a co-worker or boss or company exec seeing you post that you hate your job.
4. Don't post about hating your job! I see this a lot on twitter. People post about disliking their job or things about their bosses. This will get you in a lot of trouble. There have been many cases of people posting about their jobs and being fired on the spot.
5. Don't just hand out your username to any one. This can be hard sometimes. But this goes back to rule number 3! You really want to be careful.
6. Don't use your real name. The more you use your real name on sites, the easier it is to find you. Go ahead, Google yourself. Unless you are one of the lucky ones that have several celebrities with the same name, you probably came up in the top 10 results. Use a name that works for you, but if you want to play it safe, Don't use your real name.
7. And finally, Don't give an exact location of where you are working. This is the one that really bit me. I would check into work on brightkite and forget to check in to my home when I came home. This made it easy to link me with my former employer. There are other location services out there so be careful. Check into a cross street if you want, But don't include the name of the place you work.
If you follow these 7 simple rules, the chance of your social media life causing your career demise will be limited. Remember, the internet is public, people can see and find you easily. Just protect yourself and try to have fun.
Related Articles:
Comments
