Comment by Candice Arnold on January 15, 2009 at 3:04pm

You know, you can always block certain people from seeing certain things on your page. Or you can have a separate page that you use only for professional networking. I guess as long as you weren't wearing a lampshade on your head or flashing your "assets," etc., you should be all right with leaving your pics up. :-)

Comment by Waqas R. Kidwai on January 15, 2009 at 3:12pm

I agree with Candice - Facebook account allows you to put rectrictions to the friends added to your list. You may not allow everyone to view your pictures, profile, Wall messages etc. It is called as a limited profile option (you can check this out at friends tab)

The other option is to create an other account only for the professionals to be added but no one has that much time so as far as you've all decent pictures in your photo album you can easily add your professional friends without any restrictions but you may put them in limited profile if you do not want any one of them to view your personal pictures =)

Comment by Jennifer LaVigne on January 19, 2009 at 11:07am

Tanks to all of you..I guess the best thing to do is create a separate professional facebook account:) Thanks to all fo you!:)

Comment by Cheryl Wright on January 21, 2009 at 1:20pm

I have been torn with the same question on using Facebook and agree on having a seperate professional account. What is everyone's thoughts on MySpace. My teenagers use it daily and I feel it is even more personal then Facebook. Does anyone use MySpace as well and if so, do you use seperate accounts? Has either or been successful?

Thank you!

Comment by Ian R McAllister on January 21, 2009 at 1:49pm

Keep one account, but tone it down to a "I am a professional, but am not as grey as a brick and do have a social life" formula. Apply a test of "would I tell my mother this in a busy coffee shop" - and its alternate of "if it makes my mates laugh, its unsuitable" and all should be OK.

Having two accounts just makes recruiting and HR people looking to employ you conclude that you DO have something to hide - and hence its a reason for a CV/resume sift exclusion. Where as restricting access to a set of pictures on a girls trip to Vegas can be easily understood.

Employers want to see socially connected people, so having a Facebook account which includes social things appropriate for your age/the event being attended is more than fine. But how you handle your own image and information reflects in part how you will handle their image and information: HR people are taught that patterns repeat.

Good Luck!

Comment by Dave Baldwin on January 21, 2009 at 5:27pm

Like all forms of marketing, I would say that there are no absolute "do's" or don'ts." It all depends on the audience. If you're looking for a job, what kind of company are you likely to be interviewing with? I would say that if you're shooting for a mid- to large-size corporation, the obvious rules apply. Bachelorette party pictures, no.

But now that the economy is changing, a lot of the traditional corporate jobs are disappearing and not coming back. There will be a lot more opportunities coming up with smaller companies or garage shop operations. Consider that the ideal opportunity for you might lie with a company like this. In this case, what you put on Facebook might not necessarily be an issue.

Also, aside from just avoiding offending people, think about what you could post that would be a plus for an employer. Again, this depends on the type of employer, but for one example, if you're applying to a non-profit organization, you could use your Facebook page to highlight your charity work with a cause similar to theirs.

Hope that helps,
Dave
919-723-7916

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