Facebook- Friend or Foe - Workology

Facebook- Friend or Foe Facebook Friend or Foe Are you on Facebook?   Millions of people (over 300 million) use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. Your friends are here.   Your family is here (Im connected with everyone from high school classmates to cousins to grandma).   And guess what?   Employers are here (on Facebook) now, too.   Did that give you a sick feeling in your stomach?   What if your boss knew what was posted on Facebook?   Would it matter?   These are all questions that I hear everyday.   The one thing that everyone should know is: NOTHING is private on the web.   NOTHING.   It doesnt matter if your status is set to private or if youve locked out certain people.   If a person is resourceful enough, they can find it. Facebook Friend or Foe So with that in mind, here are a few tips to help make Facebook your friend rather than your foe: Keep it clean. We all have fun.   Some of us have even documented that fun (legal or not) with pictures.   You just dont have to post it on Facebook.   Keep the pictures if you need to reminisce about the good ol days.   But, would you want mom, grandma, church pastor, or your boss seeing your beer-bong contest pictures?   Probably not. Be authentic. Your personal brand is something that can really shine through in social media.   Be consistent and authentic.   Your true personality will come out after a little time.   Theres no sense in hiding it.   Use it to your advantage. Connect and reconnect. Facebook is a great place to learn more about the people you know or even people you want to know.   While LinkedIn is still utilized for more professional use, Facebook provides a personal side to the equation.   There are recruiters on Facebook   I would caution you to keep interactions professional.   They could care less about your Farmville, Mafia Wars, or Sorority Life gaming online. Like it. What was recently known as become a fan has changed to provide a more open forum of interaction.   You can now like something on Facebook.   This goes for all sorts of things from a certain company (great way to learn about culture, even jobs) to trivial things such as Mexican food or sandwiches.   As Joey Tribbiani said on Friends, who doesnt like sandwiches? Integrate with other platforms. If youre a Twitter user (see earlier post: Tackling Twitter), you can now update your status there at the same time as your Facebook status.   If youre a jobseeker, use this opportunity to update regularly with things that youre working on, types of jobs youre seeking, and snippets of the experience you bring to the table.   You never know who will be looking! Facebook can be a great platform for personal branding, reconnecting with friends and family and prove to be a positive resource for jobseekers.   Just remember to be yourself, keep it clean, and have a little fun.   Make Facebook work for you, not against you. Kirk Baumann is a blogger and contestant for the Job Search Blogger Contest.   Vote for Kirk by leaving a comment until May 11th.