Social Media: Mixing Business with Pleasure?

"One of the questions I hear most often when I'm teaching a social media seminar is how to balance their professional social media presence with their personal one. People ask me if they should blog and Tweet as themselves or as their business. They ask if they should mix business contacts with friends on Facebook and LinkedIn. They want to know if they can talk about their hobbies on their business profiles. Basically, they want to know the pros and cons of mixing business with pleasure in the blurry-lined landscape of social media."

Social Media is (are??) intruding in our lives more and more every day. All of these new forms of communication and interaction pose new challenges and opportunities for us to consider. Jennifer has written an interesting article exploring some of the issues that arise in this area that we all need to think about seriously before we become active in this arena. A big point to remember is, "you can't take things back!" Once you have put something out into this environment, you have lost all control over it.

In my own experience, I find I am mixing business and social more and more on the web, but I tend to be a pretty private person anyway, and I am very cautious about the personal things that I post. Even so, this information, especially over some time, can become quite revealing, and you can inadvertently tell people things that you might not always be comfortable with.

One suggestion that I might make to newcomers to this field is to do some "lurking" before you become active. What this refers to is the practice of hanging around and reading what other people are saying without participating yourself. There are many forums on the web where this practice is really frowned upon and discouraged, but the newer forms of the social media are so wide open that I have not seen that same sort of attitude expressed. What it does for you is it gives you a chance to see what other people are doing so you can form your own impression of what is appropriate and comfortable for you before you commit yourself. When you see the material that other people are putting up on the web, I guarantee you will have a personal reaction to what you see. This reaction will help to inform you about your personal comfort zone, and you can use that information to guide your own participation.

As Jennifer's piece makes clear, it has to be a personal choice for each of us to determine the correct balance between these different interests. My own decision is to continue as I have been doing, but always remember that there is no private conversation taking place here and anything that I say can be seen by anyone else on the web, today or tomorrow, into the indefinite future! If you are not comfortable thinking about that prospect when you get ready to post something, don't post it! I want to err on the side of caution at all times.