Mismanagement of Social Media Accounts Can Get You Fired!

Posting a picture of you kissing a billboard on which a hot model is showing her pout might get you a couple of likes from your school or college friends but it is very unlikely that boss will appreciate the humour. When we conceived our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles while we were still in college, we never imagined that these websites will become an integral part of our personal as well as professional life. If managed properly, these social media portals can provide an excellent platform to portray yourself as a thoughtful and resourceful leader but if you are not careful, you might come across as any other idiot, trying hard to look cool, but failing to do that as well!
How can you avoid the latter so that you unknowingly won’t end up damaging your chances of climbing the professional ladder? Here are a few pointers –

• Set boundaries that how you’ll use different platforms and more importantly, stick to them.
• Keep the content you post on Facebook and LinkedIn separate from one another. Facebook for friends and family members and LinkedIn for colleagues and business contacts.
• Think twice before adding your colleagues to your Facebook profile. Or make a separate friend-list for work people and add them to this list and make sure every time you post something controversial, hide the post from these friends (remember, you can customise all your posts on Facebook?)

Absolutely avoid these bloopers –

• Fun Time – Never post your personal pictures in which you are almost naked on the beach or having a great time with your friends with a dozen beer bottles in the background on LinkedIn.
• Keep in Crisp – Don’t treat your profile as an epic novel! Portray your achievements in a subtle manner. Do not write some 50 pages bragging how intelligent or hard working you are.
• Clean Email Id – If your id is letsbangbang@hotmail.com, no one is going to call you for an interview.
• Give it a Break –If you update your status every 5 minutes, people will think you have nothing better to do in life.