Engaging online knows no limits

More and more people are joining online social networking including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and much, much more.  With this rapid expansion online, businesses and professionals are starting to pay closer attention to everything they see on these social networking websites.  The lines between personal communication and professional communication has blurred.  Everything you post can be read by your future employers and the rest of the professional world.  

Barri Rafferty from Ketchum wrote that even every word counts.  Twitter is a prime example of this.  The poster's thoughts are limited to just 140 characters per update, so they have to be concise and to the point.  Rafferty also talked about a tweet problem is his own company.  a colleague fired off an offensive tweet about a client's hometown without actually using the name of the city.  Even though the colleague of Rafferty's didn't mean any harm by posting his thoughts at the time, he wasn't professional in his use online.  Everything can and will be seen by someone.  That colleague was unprofessional and unlucky enough to have the wrong person read what he wrote.  

Rafferty also mentions five things to keep in mind when posting online. His first insight was that the private is becoming public.  Like I stated earlier, nothing is completely secret anymore.  You can't post something online and expect that you will be the only one to see it.  "Our professional work as communicators can be impacted by a personal comment," Rafferty said, "so we must appreciate the convergence of the worlds in which we live."  His second insight was that context still matters.  Even though speech may be restricted to 140 characters or must be written at the speed of lightning, context should still be at top of mind.  The third insight was remember there are 360 degrees of connections. Rafferty just meant that the poster must not only think about who they are posting to, but who else might read it.  For example, by posting this very blog, I know that my classmates are reading it, but I also need to think about any public relations professionals that might come across it!  His fourth insight was that the stakes are higher than ever.  With communication at the speed of lightning online, every post has the possibility of creating a conversation.  With this possibility, every post has to be correct.  All the facts must be checked before they are posted! 

His last insight I found most important.  Rafferty stated that we're all accountable.  Every time we post something, it is under scrutiny by someone else.  Everything posted on Twitter or a public blog is public domain.  We should all remember that next time we post! 

To check out Rafferty's article, click here.