Social Media Trends

Public

Discussion:

Katya,

Excellent question. How does one manage the balance between disclosure of information and protection of information? This is a personal question as well as a social/cultural question raised by the trends in society and human behavior that we are seeing because of social media. There are multiple things one can do to manage their online information in the context of leveraging social media as a professional tool. If one decides they would like to use social media platforms professionally, they may want to consider having separate accounts - one that is for personal life and personal interactions among close friends and family and another that is used for professional purposes. Accounts are free to establish and allow you to clearly separate the intended purpose. This may be seen as a good solution to some while others may think that this adds to their work because it doubles the accounts they have to manage. There will be pros and cons to every decision but this is one clear strategy to better control the potential intermingling of personal vs. professional information shared with constituents.

You sated, "how can we avoid giving out too much of our own personal information?" All the information on social media that is shared is voluntarily provided by the user. Users decide what will go in their profiles, their privacy settings, how they will use their account, what they will "like" on Facebook, who they will accept into their networks, etc. Users opt-in to what they disclose and how they will share information so the easy answer is to simply be aware that the information provided on social media is not private and if you opt in to using social media tools, you take with it the responsibility to manage your online information. Once on the internet, data can live outside of a platform even with privacy settings. How? You don't control how everyone will interact with your data. Even friends may take screen shots of your "private" data if they wanted to and share it. You can be tagged in images, mentioned in Tweets, etc. One must be vigilant and must police and monitor their online identities along with the information associated with their online identities. How can one avoid giving out too much of their own personal information? They must simply make educated decisions which first comes with awareness of everything I explained followed by good decision-making.

You may find the 10 steps to personal branding near the end of the course to be another helpful resource that gives very basic steps on how we can take control of our online identities rather than leaving our personal brands (reputation) up to happenstance. Ultimately, make wise decisions and if one wishes to not disclose personal information while leveraging social media as a tool in their professional duties, I find the easiest way to do this is to have completely separate accounts which makes it easier to manage personal vs. professional information.

Katya, I hope that answers your question. Please feel free to follow up if you have additional questions or if you need further elaboration on anything. Once again, thanks for contributing to group learning through your excellent questions.

Robert Starks Jr.

Katya, Excellent question. How does one manage the balance between disclosure of information and protection of information? This is a personal question as well as a social/cultural question raised by the trends in society and human behavior that we are seeing because of social media. There are multiple things one can do to manage their online information in the context of leveraging social media as a professional tool. If one decides they would like to use social media platforms professionally, they may want to consider having separate accounts - one that is for personal life and personal interactions among close friends and family and another that is used for professional purposes. Accounts are free to establish and allow you to clearly separate the intended purpose. This may be seen as a good solution to some while others may think that this adds to their work because it doubles the accounts they have to manage. There will be pros and cons to every decision but this is one clear strategy to better control the potential intermingling of personal vs. professional information shared with constituents. You sated, "how can we avoid giving out too much of our own personal information?" All the information on social media that is shared is voluntarily provided by the user. Users decide what will go in their profiles, their privacy settings, how they will use their account, what they will "like" on Facebook, who they will accept into their networks, etc. Users opt-in to what they disclose and how they will share information so the easy answer is to simply be aware that the information provided on social media is not private and if you opt in to using social media tools, you take with it the responsibility to manage your online information. Once on the internet, data can live outside of a platform even with privacy settings. How? You don't control how everyone will interact with your data. Even friends may take screen shots of your "private" data if they wanted to and share it. You can be tagged in images, mentioned in Tweets, etc. One must be vigilant and must police and monitor their online identities along with the information associated with their online identities. How can one avoid giving out too much of their own personal information? They must simply make educated decisions which first comes with awareness of everything I explained followed by good decision-making. You may find the 10 steps to personal branding near the end of the course to be another helpful resource that gives very basic steps on how we can take control of our online identities rather than leaving our personal brands (reputation) up to happenstance. Ultimately, make wise decisions and if one wishes to not disclose personal information while leveraging social media as a tool in their professional duties, I find the easiest way to do this is to have completely separate accounts which makes it easier to manage personal vs. professional information. Katya, I hope that answers your question. Please feel free to follow up if you have additional questions or if you need further elaboration on anything. Once again, thanks for contributing to group learning through your excellent questions. Robert Starks Jr.