Keep It Clean!

After a few months of developing my social media skills, I've learned that the most important thing to keep in mind is to ALWAYS be professional. At a recent PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) meeting, a member of the featured alumni panel reaffirmed this by stating that potential employers notice things like grammar and subject matter in tweets and posts. Does a PR firm or other type of professional organization want to see pictures of your drunken weekend activities? NO! This is social media suicide, in that those pictures and comments will never disappear.

It may seem like a no-brainer not to do things like this when you have prominent people following you, but I see it happen everyday with students my age. After looking through my different social media profiles, I've realized that each has a different level of professionalism to it, and that I use each for a different function. From LinkedIn to Twitter, and even my personal blog (this one!), I like to keep things consistent by tailoring my messages to be about related things. I keep details of my personal life to a minimum and try to feature skills and interests that will hopefully one day help me out in the future. Although my Facebook profile definitely has a more personal feel to it, I am still conscious to not be posting things that negatively affect my image in any way. Privacy settings don't protect you from everyone, and questionable things on personal profile can always come back to haunt a person.

So yes, my Twitter page is more personalized than my LinkedIn page, and my Facebook page is more personalized than my Twitter page, but each one is consistent in the way I present myself. By "keeping it clean" I can positively present myself online to potential employers and form lasting relationships that may be able to help me in the future!