Your Social Media Identity: Keeping it Clean Online

Somewhere out there, someone who you don’t even know knows something about you. It’s true – in this day and age, it’s so easy to search for information with just a click of a button! Your social media profiles, whether they are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and so forth, give off the first impressions on people you have never even met. Do you overshare? Are your posts inappropriate or getting too personal online? If so, it’s time to clean it up!

Hope to land your dream job? Looking to secure that huge client? Want to gain a larger following? As much as you are keeping tabs on them, they are most definitely keeping tabs on you. The last thing you want is for others to make false and negative assumptions based on what they merely read or see, and guess what? The ball is in your court. Here are four simple tips on how you can polish up those accounts and use them to your advantage!

Google Yourself

It’s hard to know what exactly is out there about yourself if you don’t check first! Do a simple Google search and weed things out. This is a first-hand account of what people will see if they search for you, and you can work to remove any unwanted information if it ever pops up!

Check Your Privacy Settings

This is what I mean when I say the ball is in your court. Play around with your privacy settings and tailor your accounts based on what you would like to share… with whom you would like to share it with! Facebook and LinkedIn are two great examples! You can easily create customized lists of people with access to certain content (such as on Facebook) and can control what others see when they search for you. It’s always a good rule of thumb to share just enough information (appropriate info, that is!) so that others can identify you!

Reconsider What You Post

If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it, don’t post it! While it might seem like a good idea to post that inappropriate photo or comment at that moment in time, save yourself some trouble and either check your sharing and privacy settings or keep it to yourself. Don’t let something as simple as that keep you from potential career and business opportunities, loyal followers and of course, a clean social media identity.

Once something is published on the Internet, it can easily be shared and stored away for future reference… even if you end up pressing that delete button. Think twice about it 🙂

Be YOU!

There’s a fine line between having a super straight-edged personality online and bearing anything and everything for all to see. What people want to see are genuine and relatable thoughts and comments. You don’t have to go out of your way to post like a machine (think generic content that lacks thought-provoking finesse), but don’t be afraid to let your true self shine through. You are more likely to be noticed and gain followers!

You wouldn’t want to make the wrong impression on someone you haven’t met, would you? Your cyber space personality counts just as much, so it’s important to keep things tasteful! Keep tabs on what is posted about you through simple Google searches, update your privacy settings and even so, always reconsider what you post. Be mindful that what you put out there can always be shared, and in bad cases, haunt you later down the road! Don’t be afraid to be yourself but have a filter and keep it refined. Follow these easy steps and you’ll be golden!