Are you really sure no one is reading your profile?
Dear readers,
Let me set the record straight.
If you have a social
media account of any sort, whether it’s Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, a blog or Google+ or some form of network that allows
you to stay in touch, stalk and/or communicate with people - your life is
public.
Regardless of how many
privacy controls you’ve set or what you think you have locked away, more often
than not, someone, somewhere would have heard of you or known you. They or a
mutual friend would be able to access pictures of your drunk-arsed self, heard
about your various shenanigans, checked out the people that you hang out with,
read your self-absorbed status updates, seen you go from being single, to in a
relationship, to married or are currently available or read your bitchy
comments about clients or people in general. You may think that you are cool,
but at the end of the day, random people will end up knowing a heck lot more
about you than you could possibly imagine.
So what is the deal
with social media then? It’s pretty simple, really. Either you learn how to use
it wisely or you don’t use it at all.
Today, the misuse of
social media is one of the leading concerns that people have. More and more people
are getting fired, sued, divorced and jailed because of it. Just look at Wikileaks, ask your friends
or simply read the thousands of articles online about people who abuse social
media platforms who thought that no one reads their materials. How many times
have you heard the phrase: ‘my boss will never read that?’ The claim that what
you post on your profile is private and is only your view no longer holds true.
Whether you like it or not, potential employers, recruiters, customers, new boyfriends/girlfriends,
friends, the media etc are using social media channels to learn as much as they
can about you.
Everyone is guilty of
using social media to their advantage. Therefore, why not use it wisely or
responsibly?
You don’t have to be a
drone to create an interesting profile that plays to your strengths. Instead of
posting inane updates, think about what you are posting. And who will be seeing
it. Do you really want members of your family to know that you had a wild night
with the boys? Sure you can un-tag those photos but can you control anyone else
from putting them online in the first place? How does it reflect on you? Will
this be good or bad for your public profile? Don’t just check-in at every place
you go to. How about highlighting the interesting aspects of the places that
you are visiting instead?
It’s not difficult to
maintain your public profile if you are smart about it. I’m sure that you have
a thousand different opinions and thoughts but at the same time, it’s good to step
back once in a while, to check that you don’t go overboard. Sharing is one
thing, showing everyone that you are a self-absorbed fool is another thing
entirely. The onus is entirely on you to
show people who you are.
After all, some one is reading it.
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