Too Personal For Facebook?
Facebook offers a status update, similar in many respects to Twitter. Your status updates appear in a feed, viewable by all the friends on your friends list. The option to upload photos is especially popular, particularly for loved ones who live far away and viral photos that get passed around. If you are using your Facebook account for both personal and business purposes, you should monitor what you update in your feed and in your photo album or it could affect your job and your family.
As social media has exploded with Facebook as one of the front-runners and more and more jobs becoming more than just eight hours in a cubicle, the lines between job-related information and personal information shared with close friends and family are becoming quite blurred. Chances are, if you wouldn’t want your grandmother or your CEO to know something about you, you are better off keeping that piece of information to yourself and not posted on your Facebook wall.
While Facebook is an excellent way to keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues, sometimes too much information is really…too much information. You might have had a great time at the bachelor party last weekend with your buddies, but neither your boss nor your mother needs to see the picture of you receiving a lap dance. Your co-workers might understand your frustration with the boss, but he probably won’t appreciate the comment that he’s a jerk – that appears in your feed.
Caution is the byword, and Facebook does provide tools for you to manage who sees your feed and photos and who doesn’t. It takes a few minutes to set up separate groups for personal and business information, but it’s time well-spent if it saves your job or your mother from a heart attack.
Under settings at the top of your Facebook toolbar, you can choose who sees your information. You can also control who can find you through a Google search. In the photo section, there is also the option to choose who can and cannot see your photos. Take the extra time to carefully evaluate who is on your Facebook friends list and what you want them to see. There is also a block function which comes in handy for people with whom you don’t want to share any information.
Taking the time to evaluate whom you allow access to different parts of your life makes things easier for you in the long run. People have lost their jobs over what they have posted on Facebook in a careless moment, or in the heat of a bad day. While your friends and family may understand, an employer will not, and jeopardizing your career over a reckless moment is not worth it. Take a few minutes and review your privacy settings on Facebook on a regular basis, and you’ll be able to breathe a little easier and enjoy the Facebook experience to its fullest potential.
5 Responses to “Too Personal For Facebook?”
Leave a Reply
Follow US
Add Us
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ryan J. Davis. Ryan J. Davis said: RT @michael_duvall: Too Personal For Facebook? http://tinyurl.com/yaqvtb6 [...]
So often people don’t realize that what they post can be seen with others. I choose to stay away from facebook.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by abcPatty: RT @michael_duvall Too Personal For Facebook? http://bit.ly/4qhBdW…
[...] intentions and assure the other person it’s nothing personal. If it is a truly sticky situation, Facebook offers privacy settings whereby you can restrict the person from accessing your Facebook account, and that might be all you [...]
[...] page were to catch the attention of a job recruiter you definitely would not want your “overly personal” information being seen. Some of the things on your Facebook page may not be essential for [...]