re: When or when not to Facebook…
Hi Aviva
In response to your post about exposing your personal facebook interest, language and activities to business contacts:
The various social networks are like online versions of real life social
environments. I don’t wear professionally acceptable clothing to the beach,
and wouldn’t be embarrassed if a client saw me there in a bikini. However I
certainly wouldn’t wear a bikini to a work meeting. Therefore I think it’s
all about being clear about your personal environment within each social
media platform. For instance, I made a decision from day one that facebook
would be social for me. I accept clients and colleagues as friends, but my
facebook picture is intentionally of me with two kids that shows them
without question that this is a social, not professional, environment for
me. This also means that I don’t use my personal facebook profile as a
business tool like many people do.
If I saw a client at the beach with my kids running around me I would gladly
talk business with them, but I wouldn’t set up a meeting for that
environment. Similarly, sometimes there is a comfortable cross-over, but
it’s not a “Seital” facebook, it’s a “Rashi” facebook profile. Having said
that, I am aware that some professional contacts are privy to my facebook
activities so I am cautious not to do professionally damaging things there,
just like I wouldn’t do something that could damage my professional
reputation at the beach – but there’s a difference between professionally
damaging and non-professional. Twitter on the other hand is more of a
blended professional interface for me, although I do blend personal updates
there too and quite like the personal/professional blend within that
environment.
So bottom line – I think it’s all about setting expectations. If you’re
inviting or accepting professional colleagues to what is clearly your
personal space, then they’ll accept it in that context and realize that the
music you enjoy isn’t a reflection of your professional competency, and your
jokes with friends show your social side, not your professional
communication style.
Good luck in achieving the professional/personal balance we all work towards
in real life, now reproduced via the online social environments!
Regards
Rashi
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Rashi Elmaliah is a marketing strategist for about a decade and is founder & director of Seital. Seital provides marketing strategy and implementation services to Israeli companies targeting international markets.
Rashi Elmaliah
Director
Seital – Marketing Strategy & Implementation
mobile: +972-54-6622893
phone/fax2mail: +972-2-5701628
fring: rashi / +972546622893
skype: rashielmaliah
MSN: rashi@seital.co.il
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Hello Rashi
I enjoyed your discussion about Facebook, especially because it’s a complex subject (the Social Web I mean). Everybody wants to sound ‘in’ and use these new buzzwords but in truth I find all this a bit daunting. I know it’s important to communicate socially but I don’t know what the frequency, dosage and spread should be.
As an English copywriter working mainly for Israeli clients, I sometimes get asked to get involved in the Social Web for them. So far I have refused, because I don’t have a strong enough grasp of what to do. Do something well, or don’t do it at all.