SocialMedia Talk

Our online profiles say much about us to the world at large and can have a huge impact on us personally and professionally, for good or bad. As we post our status on Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites, post pictures, we build an image of ourselves that is readily accessible by prospective employers, schools, new relationships, and so on. More often than not the context for the moments we capture and share is not present with those status postings, pictures, videos, and the like. Much as putting on a set of clothes or uniform might define peoples snap judgment of us so to does our online profile build an image that can result in a positive or negative judgment of us. To think otherwise is at best naive and to insist that schools, employers, and others act otherwise is to ignore realty and is not a recipe for success. As we seek to make ourselves an attractive applicant for a university or job we strive to build a resume’ that paints us in a certain light to these same institutions. We need to take the same care in how we manage our online profile.

In this Social Media Samurai special episode of Michael on the Go I discuss the impact that your online profile can have on your personal and professional life. If you are active on social network sites, have a daughter or son who is active, then in this episode I have some food for thought. Too often we separate common sense care of our image and reputation from our activities online. This can lead unintended consequences down the road. Conversely, a well maintained online profile can be a great boon to an individuals reputation and be a help to them professionally and personally. As the father of a college student, and volunteer with high school teens I see on a daily basis the good and bad that occurs in online profiles. In today’s episode I cover: 1-The explosion of social media   2-Online disclosure   3-Who’s looking at your online identity   4-Positive and negative aspects of online identity. I had been hoping to do this session more formally in a scripted Social Media Samurai setting complete with teleprompts as I feel it is an extremely important topic not just for us techies but even more so for the younger generation that has grown up fully immersed in social media. However, my real day job has kept me too busy to have time for a formal sit-down so I have gone ahead and set out my thoughts, while driving, around this area of discussion. If you, or a young person you know is engaged in online social computing then hopefully you will find some useful food for thought or talking points for discussion in this episode.

Social Media Profile Impact Video