• August 25, 2015

    How professional is your social media profile?

    Social media is an unavoidable part of our lives and even the most hard-working and focused woman will admit to having had a longer-than-planned check of Facebook at one time or another. We all the know those certain people we have on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc as well. There’s always a serial selfie-taker, an overtly loved-up couple, someone who creates a profile for their week old baby and, maybe the most popular character, the over-sharer, but what does your social media page say about you? And, more importantly, how professional is it?

    Regardless of your privacy settings, once you post something online it’s there forever and sometimes employers, students or clients don’t have to look that hard to find it either. So does that mean you should stop posting your selfies and bikini holiday snaps? Sorry but, yes. Think how you’d feel if you walked into a meeting and knew that everyone in that room had seen your Saturday night pre-drinks photo from last weekend and your beach photos from your Mexican break? Or if they knew that you called your boyfriend your Sugarplum? Or if you’re a ‘total Daddy’s girl’?

    It’s probably not the image you’re wanting to portray of yourself or your brand, but nevertheless and even if it’s unconsciously, they’ll have your social profile in the back of their mind. And, unfortunately, being a woman may make it worse. We already have to fight hard enough to make ourselves be taken seriously – isn’t divulging our personal information on social media just adding fuel to the fire?

    I’m not saying it’s easy and I’m definitely not saying that I’m not guilty of this, but having built my career in social media I like to think that I’m more careful than most, so my top tips are the following:

    1) Think what you want to achieve from each of your social profiles and add information accordingly. For example, Twitter is my professional space so I’ll post about work, my professional interests and use it to network instead of tweeting my friends and posting about my nights out. By contrast, Facebook is what I use to keep in touch with my friends, so I’ll post more casual and personal posts – but no beach photos and limited photos overall, especially not ones from nights out!

    2) Before you post anything, think how you’d feel if your boss/colleagues/employees/Mum,/clients saw it. If it makes you cringe or feel uncomfortable, don’t post it.

    But is it fair?
    Your job probably takes up most of your life already so is considering it when it comes to social media and your downtime fair? We asked a Siobhan, a medical student who’s less than a year away from qualifying as a Doctor:

    “I definitely think differently about social media now, and that is an ongoing process. Since the beginning of medical school we’ve been warned about patient privacy and facebook etc, and all NHS staff have to do information governance training annually (this covers info in all aspects of life, not just social media).

    In the hospital there are posters with fake facebook posts that show what is unacceptable. I think the general perception of social media has changed from something that was fun and easy and flippant, to something hyperacute and delicate. It’s wise for anybody to be precious about what they post because it’s an immortal record of what could have been a throwaway remark, and it seems difficult to recover from that. The “official party line” is that the public expects doctors to be professional at all times in all aspects of life, so of course that will skew what is appropriate to post online.

    I’m not sure whether or not it’s fair to expect doctors to be doctors 24\7 when other professions are allowed to switch off outside of work, but I still overwhelmingly feel it is a privilege to be a doctor and to be trusted so. I’d rather be a doctor than on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!”

     

    Stephanie Bolton

    @StephanieBolton

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