Comments on: Where’s the line between your personal social networks and your business social networks?

By: Are you judged by your network? Or will you be? » the hurricane inside my brain

Fri, 01 May 2009 17:37:04 +0000

[...] Second, it’s interesting that Social Networking is starting to be seen as a “cost of entry.” How soon will it be before companies looking to hire you will be checking out how large your network is? How soon before they start asking you to use your network to promote them? (more on that debate here.) [...]

By: edwardboches

edwardboches — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:21:07 +0000

Marc:
Agree. Am noticing for sure that younger people have it all mushed together, and you can see that also in comments from people who embrace this stuff wholeheartedly. Also, there are companies like Office Max, which used its employees to start the spread of Elf Yourself. That was the beginning of the snowball. Seems to me that while companies shouldn’t impose on employees, they should identify and use those who would willingly become advocates, voices and spreaders for the brand.
Edward Boches

By: Marc Meyer

Marc Meyer — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:07:48 +0000

Interesting question, we had actually been chewing on a different aspect of this last week in an HR Unpanel event on Twitter, in which the question was raised, "If a would be employer either asked to be friended or requested to be friends, what would you say? The easy answer is to say you don't mix business with pleasure; and that answer actually works well for your discussion but... What happens if you say no? Are you hiding something? Are you not a "company person" A lot of things can be construed just by hedging your bet and saying no thanks. But, I think it might be more of a problem for Gen X and boomers than it might be for Gen Y, and that's the biggest difference; They are already used to a certain level of transparency. So in a few years, it might not even be a topic worth discussing. Marc Meyer’s last blog post..Don’t Blame Social Media

By: Citizen of the social media universe « Minnesota Mist

Citizen of the social media universe « Minnesota Mist — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:11:40 +0000

[...] the line between one’s personal social networks and business social networks, the blogger Edward Boches posits MySpace as the bar, Facebook as a backyard barbecue, LinkedIn as the office, and Twitter as [...]

By: Jimmy Gilmore

Jimmy Gilmore — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:57:08 +0000

To misquote Scott McNalley "There is no social networking privacy. Get over it." The internet has turned the world into a small town where everyone knows how drunk you got at the Christmas party. As Mark points out, there are tools you can use to limit the leakage but every town has a loud mouth or two. This shouldn't mean you can't have an honest discourse amongst friends on Facebook. It may mean that certain topics should be avoided or that you may not want to engage/friend that drunk friend from the pub. As a South Carolina state trooper once told me, "better act like your Momma's looking over your shoulder in South Carolina." On the internet this just may be the case. Jimmy Gilmore’s last blog post..Good thoughts on media and Twitter. Even better response to Dowd

By: cody pomeray

cody pomeray — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:43:42 +0000

Thank you for sparking this discussion. In many ways I think that this is the most fascinating aspects of social networking – the impact that technology is having on how we view our selves and present our selves to the world. The problem with trying to present one “transparent” self to the world through social networks is that people just aren’t that simple. Every individual is multi-faceted. An individual is truly the sum total of all facets of their personality – even the contradictory parts. For example, I can tell the same story to my grandmother and to my friends. The fact pattern of the story might not change but the delivery absolutely will. I will present the same material to the same client in two completely different ways depending on who’s in the audience and the tone and tenor of the situation. Changing your voice to fit the audience’s expectations doesn’t necessarily equate to a lack of transparency or authenticity. The choice is clear: we can either attempt to create an online persona that effectively presents our selves to all of our overlapping social circles (personal, professional, family) or we can try to keep those selves splintered by employing a variety of online avatars. Either way, one has to consciously and carefully choose how they present themselves, knowing full well that anything and everything said on the internet may have consequences, intended or not. p.s. it's unethical for agencies to sell communications products that they don't use or fully understand. cody pomeray’s last blog post..Making Earth Day Less Boring

By: Robin Houghton

Robin Houghton — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:19:00 +0000

It’s true there are two issues here – should an employee be expected to promote its employer’s interests to his/her private social network, and if so, should the employer have the right to tell the employee what to say.

Personally I wouldn’t ask either thing of an employee. Her social network is hers, I have no right to it.

It’s simply not true that if you work for a social media agency you are either ‘all in’ or ‘out’. We are all members of multiple networks, some overlapping, some not, and it’s all about what we choose to share. Personally I don’t believe that companies should impose in this way on employees, particularly if done implicitly by way of peer pressure.

By: Colleen Foshee

Colleen Foshee — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:08:58 +0000

These posts are making me think more about my own approach to the “get on board with this” message angle that can, is and will continue to be entangled within social media streams. Right now I’m handling it like I do outside the web. I share what I want, with who I want, when I want. However, I’ll admit, face to face is easier to discern and navigate than the e-culture.

By: Lisa Hickey

Lisa Hickey — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:38:46 +0000

Wow, so much good stuff here, Edward. Thanks for bringing this conversation to the forefront.

I think the line is just going to get blurrier and blurrier, and here’s why:

1) People’s networks are going to grow exponentially over the next year or so. That will make them appear to be *more* valuable to companies and organizations. Especially when you consider that mainstream media channels will probably become *less* effective. Companies may start to become more aggressive, desperate even, in their attempt to *use* those networks.

2) A big part of the problem is due to “targeting” which is not a word that even feels natural when talking about “friends”. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? That I have friends who are poets who are going to be eager to hear about a book another friend wrote about poetry. But that very same “announcement” is going to be seen as spam by someone else. Or I work for a company who’s product I believe in wholeheartedly – but it’s just not for everyone. So is there a way I can get it out to the people who would find that useful, but NOT to those who might find it annoying? This will be the challenge of social networks going forward.

>only if you’re interested< I also blogged about my personal experience with many of the issues you bring up in a post called “Brother, can you spare a network?”
http://lisahickey.com/brother-can-you-spare-a-network/

By: edwardboches

edwardboches — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:20:17 +0000

Kevin:
Thanks for an incredibly thoughtful and articulate comment/post. Agree with all you say about the employer/employee relationship. However, on the personal front, I wonder if it won’t become acceptable to still maintain your individual pov. For example, I have started accepting clients and or Twitter followers on Facebook. Didn’t necessarily want to, but didn’t want to reject anyone. I did restrict personal photos for friends only. (Hope that actually works.) But I still feel comfortable being who I am. For example, I don’t mind speaking out on politics (Go Obama) or on abortion (pro-choice) or on the environment (stricter regulations regardless of their impact on business) or whatever. I post stuff that might be controversial, in fact I often do that on purpose. But if someone asks to be my “friend” on Facebook I assume they like something about me. They can always leave, right? As for Twitter, I’m often unfollowed by people who declare in their bio that they are conservative Christian (not sure why they’re following me to begin with) any time I say something they might disagree with. One thing that many of these conversations have done is make me far more open minded to other perspectives. I don’t have to agree, but I listen and respect everyone’s right to their opinion (short of extremism that’s harmful) and then I try to focus on what we might have in common.

Edward Boches