Each morning, the first thing that I do is check my email and look at what is going on in the news and updates on my social networking sites. I am on several networking sites – Facebook and LinkedIn – and I do find it interesting to see how people have presented themselves completely differently on each of these sites. They are the same person – but presenting their online persona differently. On LinkedIn – they are a professional, hard working, and focused individual looking for a position. However, on Facebook – they are someone completely different where they are having status updates on what they are doing later than night or playing Farmville. So – who is the true person? Are they one and the same, or are they displaying different identities to different parties? The real question is – who are YOU on social media?
Brian Solis had a great and insightful post that discusses the issue of how people are using social media in presenting their online persona among their followers. Solis also lists some of the great opportunities that social media has given to people – establishing connections and making new professional contacts, but he also discloses some caution with some of the risks and challenges that it brings to the new decade in 2010. He has a great point when he states:
“The challenge, and sometimes the quiet objective, is to balance the opening and closing of each door, and to what extent, where we either intentionally or inadvertently allow our lives to touch and inspire the others. The risk however, is that with too much exposure, we may forever alter our personal standards and ultimately our identity. If the lines slowly vanish and cease to partition our compartmentalized characters, we disrupt the state, ethics, and relationships we distinctly support and preserve. A butterfly effect ensues and creates catastrophic fallout that forces mending and restoration and sometimes, complete demolition and the building of something entirely new” (Solis, January 29, 2009, para.3).
In many ways, we are embarking in a new environment where we are going where no one has gone before (okay, that definitely sound like it was from Star Trek!) However – realistically – we as public relations professionals and researchers have to be aware of both the opportunities and risks that social media can give us in managing our online reputation – both professionally and personally. We as human beings are responding to our environment and reacting to what is going on in the virtual community.
What is amazing is that people are still to this day trying to use the Internet as their private conversation outlet where they try to set up their privacy settings so only certain people can see their information. This works only to a certain degree – but we have to realize that what is posted online is viewed by not only our friends, but by their friends, and so on. The Internet is a public forum – and unlike newspapers and radio – what is posted, shared, and commented on is there to stay. Years from now, we may have to discuss our thinking behind our blog post that we wrote back in 2006 or why we decided to post these pictures for everyone to see. The way to go is to have a balanced presence online – where you behave, interact, and present yourself as you would in real life.
These are just a few of my thoughts. Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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