Social Media

Busting at the seams of my earphones: Amsterdam - Imagine Dragons.

I just got back from the awesome city of San Francisco! The PRSSA National Conference was amazing, and the speakers chosen for the event were crazy knowledgeable and "living legends."

There was a lot of talk about social media. Mostly about how it is effecting and can effect public relations. There was one speaker, Social Media Manager of Disneyland Resort Matt Prince, who spoke about branding. Brand You - The Secrets of Personal Branding was about syncing all your social media tools into one personality - yours - so that you can promote yourself to the world around you.

I took a lot of good tips from the speech, but it also brought up questions. Should my employer be able to view my social media sites? Is it rude to deny a request from a boss? Does social media break down the wall of laws that keep personal interests, like religion and politics, from the work space? 

I realize some professions allow employees to keep social media out of their work lives pretty easily. But for my major, which is public relations, I'll be using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and so much more (especially as our technological world advances) in my day-to-day work life. Tweeting, hash tagging, posting things about my business will link my business posts back to my personal sites. Some people make separate pages. One page for business. One page for personal. C'mon...no one is dumb enough to not Google or Bing you. We live in the most creepy, stalker-like online world. People will find you. So, what do we do now that the businesses we work for or will work for are creeping on us? 

1. My personal take on all of this is that you should conduct yourself in any part of your life, social media included, the way you would want to be portrayed. Stick true to who you are. Think about how you want to be viewed. Do you want to be taken seriously or professionally? Do you want to stay simply kind? Maybe you want to be comedic, political or religious. Personally, I like to just be me and take it a day at a time. It's simple, though, don't post something if it gives you an identity you don't want to be associated with. 

2. No one wants to see your grilled cheese sandwich or the face that just ate the grilled cheese sandwich. Be cautious of the content you're posting. Do not post content that brings you down. News flash: posting pictures of your grilled cheese dumbs you down. Refer back to number one. If you want to be viewed as someone who has all the new grilled cheese recipes, then by all means post that cheesy goodness. If you don't, then rethink using Instagram for only the lunch menu. I don't know if some people have figured this out yet, but what we're posting has the potential to be viewed by the WORLD. So, post things that are interesting, life-changing, inquisitive, compelling, educational, hilarious and engaging. So, if and when the time comes that a professional views your profile, they will take you seriously and consider you to be a genuine person. 

3. This one goes out to the boss or HR person looking up their employees or future interns just to be creepy. Congrats, you're human. We all do it! Especially my generation (millennials) who grew up in technology. All I ask is that you consider the humanity of the people you're creepin' on. Yes, we should all be genuine and cautious with our social media, but that doesn't mean it's all going to be pretty. I strongly think if you're a person who looks at a colleague's profile page, then you should keep in mind that you're entering their personal life. Don't let social media pages influence business transactions. Businesses should value their employees based on education, experience, etc. (the good ole resume) not based on their current Facebook status'. 

So, be genuine, be cautious with your content, and if you're the creeping boss, don't judge someone in the office based on the status you read the night before. 

Back to San Fran! The food was awesome. I have bland taste buds, but I opened up to Indian food. I actually liked it! I didn't make it down to the Hate area, but I did some touristy things. I saw the Bay area and visited the Fisherman's Wharf. There was a lot going on at PRSSA National Conference. My favorite speaker was Co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone. Very inspirational. Stone gave the advice to only put time and devotion into the things you're emotionally tied to. LOVE that. People, do things you love doing! That way it's not work, haha.

Thanks for reading, you guys! 

Love, knowledge, character - Mix well. Apply liberally.