The importance of maintaining a professional Facebook profile cannot be overstated.
Keep it simple, keep it clean, and keep it professional. Avoid legal and personal consequences, while still having fun, by following these three simple standards when posting.
FACEBOOK PRIVACY
Keeping it simple – just remember that Facebook is not private. Privacy settings can be changed by Facebook at any time, through updates, policy changes, or even a computer glitch. By all means change your settings to as private as possible, and at least think for a few minutes who you are giving access to before clicking Accept on a friend invite, but understand that the internet is a public forum. Whatever you post there, can end up wide open for the world to view.
Furthermore, your “friends” can copy and paste, or screenshot anything you post. If you click Accept on every invite, you are opening up your Facebook to potential angry ex’s and practical jokesters. Keep your Facebook to the basic; status updates and a few photos keep you in touch with friends and family, without loading up the site with all your personal information and private photos for the world to see.
FACEBOOK PHOTOS
Keeping it clean – remember that employers look at Facebook. They can see your profile photo no matter what your privacy settings are. Do you really want that drunken photo of you tattooing your inner thigh with a ballpoint pen to be up there?
And again, the internet is not private. Before posting a photo, imagine your reaction to seeing that photo made into giant posters and taped all over your workplace/campus/family home. Would you be proud? Embarrassed? Or in jail?
Remember, your Facebook “friends” can copy any photo, and forward it to their friends, make it their computer wallpaper, print it out, use it for a class project, etc. Your employers or potential employers will search for photos of you on the internet, and decide whether you fit the professional image they want for their company.
FACEBOOK TEXT
Keeping it professional - if you want to rant about professors, coworkers, companies, or celebrities, don’t do it on Facebook. Make a phone call to a friend and let it all out that way. Your status updates, comments, links, and notes are potentially public data and, because of that, are subject to libel laws.
You may think you are privately communicating with just your 102 closest friends, but the law doesn’t care. Defamatory comments can get you sued, because the law considers social networking site content to be public, not private.
You can also avoid nasty fights with friends and family by keeping a professional attitude on Facebook. What are you losing by toning down the swear words and snarky comments? Your friends, family, and future employers will appreciate your professionalism.