Think Before You Tweet
With what seems to be everyone jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, are your blogs, social networking accounts, and Twitter posts hurting your company’s bottom line?
As a blogger myself, I tend to share the strangest details with the world. I write about my personal life, events around St. Louis, and a few hobbies of mine. Yet, because I do love my job and have common sense, I don’t write about work, my bosses, or customers. Seems easy, doesn’t it?
According to an article posted yesterday on MSNBC.com, employees still don’t seem to have a clue who is reading their blog posts, skimming their Facebook pages, and following them on Twitter.
Why waste valuable social networking hours getting yourself “Facebook fired,” when Twitter allows you to humiliate yourself quickly, and in 140 characters or less?
The article reviews a recent Twitter post mishap by a would-be Cisco employee who made the mistake of forgetting to think twice before he shared with the world. That world included a Channel Partner Advocate for Cisco, who reminded that would-be employee that they were paying attention.
Other than worrying about being “Facebook Fired” or “Twitter Fired,” employees should also be concerned what clients or would-be customers are seeing on the web. Even deleting a post after-the-fact won’t help their case much thanks to Google Cache.
A suggestion from a social-networking and blogging enthusiast who loves her job dearly? Think twice before you post. Do you want your mother, boss, friends, the world to see what you feel the need to share? If you don’t want to filter your blog posts, make your blog private so that only those you choose to share with will be able to read what you felt necessary to write.
If you still aren’t sure that you want to hold back, consider what pays your bills. If you had to choose between posting that note to Twitter about how ignorant your boss is, or getting that paycheck at the end of the week, which would you prefer?
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