Let ’ s face it : social media is risky . A single unfortunate post can throw a career off track . And yet in an era in which younger workers are connected with an average of 16 coworkers online and where 40 % to 60 % of hiring managers use social media to screen potential hires , it is simply not reasonable to stay off social media entirely . So how can we balance the personal and professional online ?
In a recent research study , we spoke with dozens of professionals about their use of social media , and were struck by the variety of approaches they are using .
Some professionals , we found , still manage to avoid social media altogether . But most see that as unrealistic in many occupations , and are unwilling to be deprived of the advantages social media affords in terms of connecting to people and collecting information . Many in some way recreate in social media the kinds of boundaries , or mental fences , they use in real life to organize their worlds . These boundaries serve people well offline , and they can perform their function online , too .
Before making any conscious choice of preferred social media strategy , professionals should do a quick self-diagnosis of their current , most natural online behavior . Do they value transparency and authenticity first and foremost ? If they do , and thus post whatever comes to mind on social media , they embrace what we call an Open strategy . The key is to ensure that they understand this is risky . They might instead use a less risky Audience strategy , being careful to keep their professional and personal networks separate . For instance , an unreserved Facebook poster might learn to deflect friend requests from co-workers and professional contacts and direct them instead to a LinkedIn account . This not only avoids the danger of appearing unprofessional to colleagues but also the potential problem of
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