Your Social Presence: Diamonds and What Happens on the Internet Are Forever

Understanding Your Social Presence

Back when it was more commonly known as the ‘World Wide Web,’ the internet was seen as an ‘other’ space, one that existed beyond the reaches of The Real World. What happened on the internet wasn’t to be taken seriously – it wasn’t real. Within the last few years this rather strange concept of what the internet ‘is’ seems to be changing, due in part the rise of social media. While some continue to miss the tweet, there is a growing consensus that what is said or done online has a direct and measurable impact on the physical, tangible world.

Whoever said that ‘words can never hurt,’ lacked a fundamental understanding of how language works. Like a stick or a stone, words can be, and often are, used as weapons. Powerful ones. Ask any group denied the right to a word or denied a right because of a word. This is what makes the internet such a dangerous place at times, it’s full of people using words, often unaccompanied by thought. The internet exists solely for communication purposes.

And all of this communicating we’re doing, every think-piece, tweet, status update, and picture we post, is being catalogued – it’s been said that history is now recorded faster than it’s actually taking place. The internet is one large encyclopaedia of the human experience, and unlike the hardcover collection on our shelves in the basement, it cannot be destroyed by flood nor fire. Diamonds and what happens on the internet are forever.

Okay, so what am I trying to get at here? Well, firstly, that it’s important to consider the impact of your words. They can do anything from sully your own reputation, à la Chick-fil-A, to cause women to flee their homes in fear, evidenced by the #Gamergate culture war currently taking place. And secondly, that what you say is probably going to be around for a very long time, as is the case with anyone who forgot about their MySpace page and now has an embarrassing, angsty time-capsule of themselves aged 12 that they cannot remove because it’s attached to a now-defunct e-mail account, screen-shot to death by opponents of any future political bid.

While this may sound like a cautionary tale against the internet and social media, it’s anything but. The internet means information, and we love information, connection, communication. Yes, we ‘do websites,’ but that stems from a desire to engage. We’re huge advocates of social media, not just from a marketing standpoint, but also for the sheer wealth of knowledge and insight that we gain from reading what others are writing. And the shift that’s taking place around the concept of the internet, while catching quite a few people in its ugly crosshairs, is oddly optimistic in its direction – it’s a shift away from anonymity and toward accountability, away from thoughtless reaction to thoughtful response. It’s making for a much richer social media experience. One that we are happy to be a part of.

But navigating your social presence online is hard, especially as an advisor when, by and large, you are your product. It makes separating you from your firm, from your brand, from what you sell, difficult. When each social media platform presents a different kind of persona, it’s important to think about which face you’d like to put forward on each. And there are two social media sites in particular that get people into the most trouble.

Facebook

When it comes to Facebook, keeping your personal and professional self separated is a must. For many of us, before we even considered our future careers, Facebook was around to make sure we wouldn’t have one. Depending on how long you’ve been active on the site, Facebook tends to be a place of old college buddies, new babies of those old college buddies, and beer. Probably of you consuming it. With your old college buddies.

Instead of making your Profile an open avenue for your business, consider creating a Page for yourself. This way you can guarantee that what you post is professional and in keeping with your business brand. Most of your clients probably aren’t interested in seeing those photos of you in your college glory days. In that same vein, restrict access to your Profile to include only your friends – they’re a little less likely to tattle on you if you make a blunder.

Twitter

Twitter’s an interesting bird. If you’re a professional, it likes a mix of business speak; unrelated yet interesting articles from around the web; and the odd pithy personal update. Unless you have something akin to an obsession with declaring the veracity of unicorns, it’s not imperative to maintain a personal twitter account as well as a professional one. If you do, create a cleverly disguised pseudonym and tweet to your heart’s content! Just remember which account you’re logged into.

While the readership of Twitter is generally accepting of a variety of posts, the deceptively open and on-the-fly nature of it makes it prime real estate for gaffs. You may be tweeting from the comfort of your own home or distracted as you run for the bus, but your twit is out roaming the world. And once it’s out, it’s almost impossible to stuff that bird back in the cage.

So here’s the big takeaway: a social presence online is no different than a social presence in person. It’s true that there’s a potential landmine waiting to explode with every social media post, but what’s also true is that how you conduct yourself online, how all of us conduct ourselves online, shouldn’t be any different than how we conduct ourselves in person. Unless what you have to say qualifies for the Whistleblower Protection Act, if you wouldn’t say it out loud, don’t say it online.

Of course we all tailor what we say in person depending on who it is we’re talking to, so absolutely speak to your audience, but also give thought to the possible reaction outside of that audience, and before you wade into whichever moral issue is up for debate that day, do a quick cost-benefit analysis to determine whether saying something is worth the potential loss.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun!

This guest post was provided by Kellie Gibson of Advisor Websites. Originally published here. Reprinted with permission.

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