“If you can dream it, you can do it”
“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
These are all quotes from Walt Disney, a man who presented a very public image that all things are possible if you can dream them and built a company around that idea.
The following link is a scan of a letter that sent by Walt Disney (the company) on June 7, 1938 to a young girl who wanted to be an animator.
http://halucine.soup.io/post/77328149/Rejection-letter-to-a-female-artist-from
The gist of the letter is “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.“
This is a bit of a mixed message…all of our dreams can come true, unless you are a girl. Now granted, it was 1938 and the social dynamics of the United States were a bit, ok a lot, different then they are today and fortunately for Walt Disney, the world was without Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any number of celebrity news channels that this letter would have shown up on and been forwarded through.
But how many times have you seen something on someone’s Facebook page or their Twitter feed that made you look at the person differently? It happens to all of us. We all have a public life/persona and a private life/persona and mixing them can sometimes be detrimental to our professional lives. And on social networking sites it is so very easy to forget that what you are about to post, which will be funny and completely appropriate for your close friends, will not be appropriate for your business relationships.
Here are three things that you should refrain from posting on your social networking profiles to help you keep your positive professional image.
1. Inappropriate pictures
While I’m sure you had fun tubing and drinking obscene amounts of alcohol last weekend, the picture of you in the tube giving the thumbs up sign with another tube next to you carrying a cooler filled with empty bear cans does not have the same impact on your clients as it does on your friends. While your friends will look at it and have fond memories of you falling off your tube into the river, your clients will use that picture to begin forming an impression about your ability to competently support their account on a regular basis and that impression won’t be positive. Remember, on Facebook anyone can view your photos, even people you haven’t friended if you failed to set your access rights correctly.
2. Language Language Language
If some words can’t be said on radio or TV you really shouldn’t use those words on your status posts. Yes I agree that it is amazing the one particular word in that list can be used as every class of word in the English language but that doesn’t mean that everyone else wants to see it. Remember that everyone has different sensibilities about what is appropriate language, the person you offend with your choice of words may be the person that can also refer you to your next largest client.
3. Personal Attacks
Social media is a tool used to build relationships not destroy relationships. Posting that status about your opinion of a particular candidate or group of people is your right under the constitution but it may have an adverse impact on your image to other people who look at your profile. If you are going to voice an opinion, word it in a way that is not attacking the other person or group and when someone replies to your post (and they will) don’t get defensive and reply in kind. Intelligent discussion will help build your credibility with those that disagree with you, insults will not.
Keeping a professional image professional is more challenging in today’s world of instant information flow. But if you pay attention to what you are saying on your social networks and just as importantly you pay attention to what other people are saying about you on their social networks, anyone can keep their image intact…even a girl.
Related Articles
- Personal Brands: Social Engineering by Social Media (personalbrandingblog.com)
September 25th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
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September 30th, 2010 at 5:44 am
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