Social Networking Do's and Don'ts

May 30, 2010, By 14 comments

Presenting the lists are Chris Bergman, who consults with Fortune 500 companies on social media and mobile strategies, and C. Trent Rosecrans, the part-owner and the founding member of Cnati.com, an online sports journalism website in Cincinnati.

How you should be experiencing social media if you’re looking for a job:

  1. Meet people. Tweeting and blogging in your home office are not the way to use this platform to find a job. Instead, you have to be willing to step away from the virtual world and into the real world every once in a while. Says Bergman, “Social is not just on the web. Go to tweetups and social media events. You never know who you’ll run into.”
  2. Don’t be offended. The web isn’t necessarily a two-way street. Sometimes, it’s a one-way boulevard, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re following a potential employer on Twitter? Don’t expect a follow in return. Instead, interact and engage in conversations with them to gain their trust and respect. Maybe, then, they’ll follow you in return.
  3. Be passionate. If social media are another variation of your resume, paint yourself in the best possible light. Are you excited about health care reform? Blog it. Are you excited about your photographic display at the local coffee shop? Tweet it. Are you excited about your new coupons blog? Have your friends become fans on Facebook.

How you should not be experiencing social media if you’re looking for a job:

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Comments (14):

Mark R. I work with a company called Cybersiblings that helps parents keep their children safe on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. We take a personal approach and provide parents with a weekly report of their childs' social networking activities. Check us out at http://cybersiblings.net/ - 12/15/2010
Anon Y. In #3 you say to talk about health care reform if you are passionate about it, then in #4 you say to steer away from politics. Last time I checked health care reform is a political issue. But hey, continue to be a contradictory idiot. - 12/07/2010
Kc D. If you go to church but do not believe 100% with them, either get a separate account where you can be yourself (keep church pals with co-workers on one account.) If you have friends who don't agree with you, DO NOT POST YOUR OPINION AT THEIR CRIB. I posted a quote by Eisenhower on my page and one of my church members took it out of context and really icked me off. She is why I WILL NOT go back to that church and I let my husband take the kids. She also had some issues with where I was vaccationing with my mom and threatened to have my daughter excommunicated for living with her boyfriend-- I took her on at that point. Still another woman took my articles and linked them and wanted to argue with me. These were over picayune aspects. (I unfriended her.) At my happy little church and work account, everything is pristine. At my personal account, I am me. Church pals have wanted to friend me and I flat out tell them no. - 11/19/2010
Mr S. OH so so true ! My sister in law constantly tells her students NOT to post certain stuff but they think they are immune - 10/01/2010
Lynne S. In other words, don't talk about anything interesting just in case a potential employer wants to spy on you. Or you could just set your FB privacy settings to friends only and be picky about who your friends are. What's the point of FB if my friends and I can't talk freely to each other? If employers want to learn about me, all the stuff they have a right to know is on LinkedIn. And how boring would the Internet be if nobody talked about religion or politics? Do we really want the Internet to become a place where people only post photos of their cats? Not that I don't love my cat, but I really don't care about other people's cat photos unless they have funny, deliberately-grammatically-incorrect captions on them. I say keep talking about whatever you want, just either make yourself anonymous or make sure only friends can see it. - 09/22/2010
David H. I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record - 09/22/2010
Christina B. ok. ok. i'm young and opinionated. tell me more about what i shouldn't do on Facebook when it comes to opinions. - 09/19/2010
Christina B. OK. OK. I'm young and opinionated. Tell me more. - 09/19/2010
Rose P. Suggest making a group of "true friends" on FB. Keep everything you really care about (politics, religion, true love) safe where only true friends can see it. (I suspect health care reform falls under politics, alas.) Post flower pictures, weather, and other innocuous stuff for "everyone." - 09/19/2010
Rob T. So in #3 of the first set you say if you're interested in healthcare reform, blog it. Then in #1 of the next set, You say avoid political discussion. I found the healthcare suggestion bad advice, but agree with the no-politics idea you put forth just below it. Doesn't #1 contradict #3? - 08/19/2010
Michelle F. well, you are correct with your observations. For me, meeting new friends in social bookmarking sites are just ok but always be careful. - 07/28/2010
Jo Denny V. That makes pretty good sense to me dude. Lou www.anonymous-surfing.es.tc - 07/27/2010
Shi M. I learned a lot thank you! - 07/27/2010
Craig H.
Craig H. Excellent lesson, particularly for students. Watch what you say. - 06/10/2010

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