Most of us have various different social personas that we adopt throughout our lives. It’s something we do instinctively. For instance, we wouldn’t tell the latest pub joke while enjoying tea with an elderly aunt, and we wouldn’t start talking serious shop while on a stag do. So how come these roles that we adopt so fluidly in the real world are things that we blithely ignore in the virtual universe?
I find it amazing that people seem to just click ‘send’ and blanket-share their thoughts across several social media platforms instantly.
When I go to Linkedin, I am entering it in a professional frame of mind, looking to make useful new connections or learn some interesting things about what’s happening in the field of marketing and communications. It’s not the place where I want to receive updates about people’s hangovers or posts about how their constipation has flared up again.
Similarly, when I go onto Twitter, I go on it to find interesting new things – new films, new ideas, new and interesting ways people have found to get under people’s radar. I don’t particularly want personal updates from people who I barely know and are just sitting in an office somewhere. Sure, if I’m following Katy Perry or Russell Brand I might expect those kind of posts – they’re celebrities, we know who they are, we understand their personal predilections, we can share in the joke. But Stephen Fry sharing an amusing observation isn’t the same as some worker drone venting their frustration at the office photocopier.
Facebook, on the other hand, is the Las Vegas of social media – where the most outrageous and silly stuff can have a natural home and we can smile knowingly at it, without judgement or condemnation. What happens on Facebook, stays on Facebook.
However, to me, someone posting Facebook-style updates on Linkedin is like someone turning up to an important business meeting wearing stained leisure pants, sucking on a doobie.
A lot of the people I’m connected to socially work in advertising/marketing.
As professionals, we’d never allow our clients to display inappropriate messages in the wrong channels. So why do we do let ourselves do it?
So, to sum up, here’s my handy guide to Social Media etiquette:
TWITTER
APPROPRIATE:
Pfizer find interesting new app to market Viagra (link)
INAPPROPRIATE:
Took a Viagra and sure put a killing on my old lady last night LOL!!!
LINKEDIN
APPROPRIATE:
Does anyone know of any job opportunities for Senior Writers in the Bristol area?
INAPPROPRIATE:
Am well bored at work, considered stabbing myself with a pencil to stay awake : (
FACEBOOK
APPROPRIATE:
3 beers, 3 cocktails, 2 pills last night. Absolutely monged!!
INAPPROPRIATE:
Diageo in £3m Direct Marketing push, read more…
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