Social Media: Separating the Personal from the Professional (Part 1)

November 17, 2009 · Posted in Biz Mgt & Dev, Information Security, Internet Marketing, eCommerce / eBiz 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or not have had access to the Internet or living a life of a hermit or well you get the point, you would somehow or another would have had received an invite from a friend, family member, a classmate, a co-worker, an associate, an acquaintance or a complete stranger (hopefully, I covered everything) to join, follow, make friends with, connect with or link with him/her or check out his profile, photo, video or note in some greatest thing ever that happened in this thingamajig that they call the Internet.

Social Media has become a major phenomenon. It has spawned a whole new vocabulary of terms that will perhaps add several more pages into the Oxford (or Merriam-Webster’s) Dictionary. People are tweeting, Facebooking, tagging, liking, sharing, embedding and wall writing. Some are LIONs, some LIONs are also tweeting… And guess what, these Tweeting LIONs can even have their own channel… Imagine that…

(Let’s make this fun let me know of some fun terms you’ve learned dealing with Social Media – Contact Me or place a comment below)

Until recently I have been somewhat averse to going into these sites. Not really quite sure what to make of it. The Information Security geek in me is waving all the red flags, pressing the red alert button, flashing the red lights and sounding the alarms telling me to “STAY AWAY FROM THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT!!!”

WHOA!!!

Really, why would I want to provide my “Top Secret” info to some complete stranger that I would be somewhat hesitant to share with my own family? Okay that may be a tad bit exaggerated, but we all are familiar with the privacy implications of being in this Social Networking sites. First you are sharing information with people that you may, may barely or may not know. Second this information is shared somewhere in cyberspace controlled by people who may or may not have your best interest in their “business model”.

Let’s get this straight, if it hasn’t sink in yet… Folks who run these social networking sites created their sites not as a public service, they created their sites to make money. And they are offering you their services for free… In life in general, and in the Internet in particular, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. They will need to and they WILL make money out of you.

In this era that we call the Information Age, knowledge is power and INFORMATION IS MONEY. You, me, us, the freeloaders are actually not riding for free. We are providing them with their most valuable asset. We are providing them statistics, metrics, behavior, OUR INFORMATION.

Hey Mr. Advertiser, did you know that Don likes beer and long walks by the beach? Why don’t you target him with your fancy Corona ad with the picturesque shoreline of Cancun in the background?

FIND AND CONNECT WITH YOUR LONG LOST FRIEND NOW. FREE!!!
(Seriously… There was probably a big reason why I lost him in the first place…)

Okay so enough with the scary and creepy part… (But before that, how about sharing some other creepy crawlies that you can think of when dealing with Social Media – Contact Me or Comment Below)

I’m a geek, a security geek… But I am also a business person. While the security geek in me is placing all the stop signs and telling me to batten down the hatches and lock all doors, the entrepreneur in me is yelling, GO! GO! GO! YOU CAN DO IT! DON’T MISS OUT IN THIS ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY! WAIT THERE’S MORE!!!

Holy Crap! Imagine all the opportunities. I could be the one selling you that Corona using Cancun as a back drop. And I can do this without loosing an arm, a leg or my shirt for that matter. I can keep all of them as a matter of fact, all I need to do is to have you join, follow, make friends with, connect with or link with me or check out my profile, photo, video or note in some greatest thing ever that happened in this thingamajig that they call the Internet. And no, I will not be considered a spammer… Man, this is just the greatest thing since sliced bread!!!

Major businesses understand this. Entrepreneurs and small businesses should, too. Here is a quick demographic for you:

A recent survey shows that 55 percent of 120 surveyed small business owners believe that online social networking — such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook — can be beneficial to their businesses.

The survey, conducted by online payroll service SurePayroll, indicates that one out of every five of the small business owners polled have obtained at least one new customer as a direct result of using social media.

According to the company’s report:

With more than 50 million non-college attendees using Facebook today, the prominence of social media is growing. Professional social networking site LinkedIn grew 187% over the past year. Based on a research project developed by Universal McCann, 36% of online users think more positively about companies that have blogs. In the SurePayroll survey, 85% of business owners participating in social media for business are doing so by way of blogging online. – Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=284

Social Networking is essentially Networking on steroids. You get all that mass without leaving your seat. You gain without the pain (of having to look pretty to talk to a complete stranger in person in a strange place where they serve $12 beer – I like beer, but I don’t like it that much)…

Before we get all excited and start yelling CA-CHING!!! There is a third aspect to Social Media that we must consider. Your Momma, Grandma and your snooty sister-in-law all love to use Facebook and they are your “friends.” You like to share with them pictures of Snoopy your puppy, but somehow, you don’t want any of them to be snooping around all up your bizniz. It’s just not a comfortable conversation in front of the dinner table for some reason or another.

On the other side of the coin, you also don’t want Joe-potential-client-or-potential-boss Schmoe to be snooping around your kids pics or your wild vacation in King Tut’s Tomb. There in lies the dilemma. And we’ve finally got down to the bottom line of this article.

How does one balance the need for privacy and need to do business? How do you separate your personal life from your professional life?

I have to cut this post short, because if I continue on, this is going to be a long-ass article and no amount of corny jokes and sarcasm can keep you reading this entry…

For now, though how about answering the above questions: How does one balance the need for privacy and need to do business? How do you separate your personal life from your professional life? Contact Me or comment below.

If you are looking for Part 2, click the link: Social Media: Separating the Personal from the Professional (Part 2)

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