The curse of Facebook

The latest from our Guest Blogger -  Mark Darby, Visa Europe:

This week, as I walked into a meeting with a number of senior bods, the most senior person turned to me and said "Ah, Mr Darby - disappointed not to see you in superhero mode."  At first I thought - "Thanks, didn't realise I was that good at Internal Comms."  I then found out he'd seen my Facebook profile.

I have done a rapid update of my details and photo - just in case anyone else sees it.  But it does beg the question (and apologies if someone else has already discussed this) - is it wrong to not be 'yourself' on what is a social network, because of implications for work. 

My friends are most disappointed - they feel I have become a faceless corporate monkey.  On the plus side though - I am now in a network with other work colleagues - and it's the best grapevine going.

Anyone else have any experience of this? 

Comments

[Sue Dewhurst]

There's an interesting article in the latest Harvard Business Review debating whether people's revelations about themselves on the web should affect their prospects at work. Apparently HR Directors now routinely google prospective candidates during the selection process.

They ask a number of experts for their views on the life/work boundaries on the web and one person says you have to 'manage' your public image on the web with work in mind. Dahnah Boyd from the University of California says 'part of living in a networked society is learning how to accessorize our digital bodies, just as we learn to put on the appropriate clothes to go to the office.'

I can see the point, but I don't like it. I wouldn't start telling people about my personal life on Linked In, but I expect to be 'me' on Facebook. And I much preferred superhero to Visaman on yours.

[Claudia Whitcombe]

It is true that Facebook is a very dangerous thing. Especially if your membership to said social network was initially as for personal purpose.

Surely, it would then be best to just keep all professional contacts off your profile - to draw the line between social life and work - for safety's sake?

Or, the other option would be to create a doppelganger - to run with your initial thread - a Clark Kent/Superman style alternative. One profile for "saving the world" and one for the work place. Never the two shall meet.

[Coralie Thomson]

It is a problem - my Facebook career began while at university and I've definitely had to tone down my page since I started working and life got all serious!

[Robin Crumby]

Great post. I have an avatar that I have, to date, been too embarrassed to share, though your post might just force me out of the closet. I'll save that till next week. Wouldn't want to rush into things.

[Alex Manchester]

Facebook does present this tricky scenario and it's difficult to know what to do. A friend and I were talking about it just this week in fact (via Facebook of course - it's great to have lots of different ways of people sending you messages...) and how much you should really put on there.

Ok so your facebook profile is protected by the fact that you control who can see you and how much of your profile each person can see, but hidden or not, all that info is still on a public website, so how safe is it? I like Claudia's idea, and I think Euan Semple also wrote recently about keeping Facebook for friends and people he's actually met, whereas his Linked-In profile is purely for business. That could also work quite well.

[Colin McKay]

As a relatively old person who graduated from university in the early 90s, I don't have the same problem with overlapping social network identities.

That said, I'm very conscious that Facebook is more sociable and relaxed than LinkedIn.

I see LinkedIn as my professional touchpoint: if you're doing an initial search for a new employee, LinkedIn would be a good place to start.

Facebook, though, reflects the actual personality you will see in the office. And the availability of that information isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As for the idea of cloaked identities: at some point, your professional and personal lives do meet. They'll do that online as well as off.

[Matthew Stewart]

I only recently discovered the wonders of facebook and having my colleagues snoop around my profile is something I did worry about. The problem with two identities is that people will eventually track you down. The networking power of Facebook is amazing being able to look at friends of friends of friends, search for companies, look through your email address book and so on. So if you've built it, they will come!

There are a few people who I work with on Facebook who I haven't 'befriended' as yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they find me. Maybe I should get rid of my drunken profile photo. Either that or just start being myself at work. Ha!