Can social media impact your professional life?

Image courtesy of cuteimage's portfolio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You hear a lot about this. Just the other day I read about a woman who complained about her new job on Facebook, and was fired when the new employer saw it.

So what does that mean exactly? Do my past photos and posts affect me now? If I like to go out with my mates and have a few drinks, does that reflect badly on me? What are the parameters? I 100% understand the safety side, of course I do, I understand it's not smart to document your every move, your address, your phone number and personal details, but why should a few photographs affect your professional career.

It's not only celebrities who have this issue anymore. I mean look at the twilight chicky and that catastrophe of an affair her and that producer guy had. It not only ruined both their relationships, obliterated that guy's marriage and her de facto status, but her career took a massive hit too.

People who had never met the girl, hated her for it. Hated that she betrayed her partner, hated that she broke apart a family. The same thing happened with President Clinton. He's rating slumped. Both these circumstances were played out in the media, but that's exactly what all these social websites are. Social Media.

But why? How does your personal life reflect on your professional life? Aren't they different? 

Do you think football players should always act responsibly when they go out because someone with a camera might be watching? Everyone talks about big brother eagle eyeing the community, the government mainly, yet we put all our information out there for everyone to see anyway.

So is this wrong or right?

At first I didn't understand it. I didn't think the two should be related, but then I really thought about it. Say a man cheats on his wife on a regular basis, she's at home with the kids, looking after the home, and he's out doing god knows what. Does that reflect on his job?

In a roundabout way, the answer is yes. This man is betraying the trust of the one person he should be unconditionally loyal too. Why wouldn't he betray a work colleague? Someone he more than likely holds in a lesser regard.

Or someone who say shoplifts. Would you trust them in your employ? What about someone who drives like a lunatic, speeds through red lights, pedestrian crossings or parking lots. Do you trust this person to be responsible?

That's just the thing, whatever you do, whatever you put out there, is you. It's not an image, it's not managed by a PR agent, it's just you, honestly you.

If I went to a job interview for say a receptionist job, and told them I hated talking to people on the phone, do you think they'd hire me? No. They wouldn't. That's part of the job. Would you hire someone as a bar tender if they said they hated alcohol?

I get that not everyone loves their job, I highly doubt cleaners love cleaning up after people, but putting that on social media... It's not the smartest thing to do. It's the internet. It's global. Everyone, EVERYONE can access it, even when you're careful about your security setting.

It sux. I know it sux. It's your account, your friends, your photo's, your opinions, but maybe think twice before you post something you might not want someone else to see, because it could come back to bite you on the ass.