Social media blurs the lines
So a few months ago, my company was in talks with a couple of vendors. As we went through the process with them, showing them our software and so forth, our account rep requested my friendship on Facebook.
I normally try to keep my work relationships on LinkedIn, and my personal relationships on Facebook, but I had started a Facebook group for my company the week before, and since we were trying to get visibility in the marketplace, I accepted.
We wound up going with another vendor, but recently I was alerted to a change in my account rep’s Facebook status — and it was a negative comment: “[So-and-so] hates my job.”
The first thing I thought of was that it was a no-no. But it didn’t bother me. I don’t now think my rep is unprofessional. I don’t think the company mistreats their employees. I just thought that my rep shouldn’t have posted that comment to Facebook.
Are we getting to a point where the line between business and personal is now something we have internalized? Is it still important to keep one’s personal life clean from all controversy so it doesn’t affect one’s career? Or are more people like me just looking at tools like Facebook and Google, where the line is blurred, and shrugging their shoulders if something crosses the line?
I say keep Facebook personal and use everything else for business (i.e. LinkedIn, blog).
It’s nice to have a place where you DON’T have to worry about what people think in the “professional” world.
There is no line. Sure you can keep your origin separate, but that’s lines on a map. When you look at the internet from space, it’s all the same data source.