Social Media: the dangers of oversharing

“Privacy theorists warn about a ‘flattening’ of social relationships online when we rush to ‘friend’ too many people”

Social hierarchies and oversharing

In real life, we have strict hierarchies about the sort of information we share.

So, we talk to our accountant about our finances, our doctor about our medical problems, and our family about what we’re all doing for Christmas (note – this last point doesn’t apply to all families…especially at this time of year!)

However, these hierarchies can get all muddled up online, with the gruesome result that the wrong people end up hearing about last night’s exploits.

Let me give you 2 practical examples of the dangers of oversharing which I’ve come across in the last month.

The job interview – is your social media history ‘clean’?

I recently attended a European Human Resources ‘HR’ Conference in the capacity of ‘resident writer’, to take testimonials from delegates & exhibitors and to write up the seminars into a series of blogs.

In case you haven’t had to apply for a job recently, one thing this conference confirmed was that your social media profile is now carefully vetted by would-be employers….going back quite a long way as well.

The company image – is your social media output consistent?

At a recent networking event, the speaker voiced the opinion that any company should aim to have a young person running their social media.

This was on the grounds that:

“Older people understand it….but young people live it”

Whilst not doubting that there now appears to be a new breed of youngsters with fast-twitch thumb fibres, does an understanding of social media equate to an understanding of business and branding?

Or put it this way – if your company starts randomly tweeting or posting about local events and special offers, is this consistent with the brand image you are trying to convey?

Could the blurring between a corporate and an individual identity, lead to oversharing of a different nature entirely?

Whatever the case, whilst the lack of boundaries in social media can be empowering it also fraught with danger.

Hence the need for a social media strategy for your business, whether it be operated by an employee or by a 3rd party such as Nobleword.