Perhaps It's Time To Clean Up Your Act

As a marketing consultant, I am fully engrossed in the world of social media. I study it, plan it, read about it, write about it and understand it more than I'd like to. I say that because it's sometimes hard to enjoy the tool when you know so much about it... I often wonder if it will ever stop evolving!?! But it won’t. It's here to stay. I am fortunate to have grown along side it from non-existence to what it is today, and on most days, I really do love all it has to offer and how it's changed the way we communicate.

My theory on why social media has become so triumphant is very simple: it’s a platform to talk about yourself. We want to be heard and social media gives us that freedom, plus billions of possible listeners along with it. It’s dangerous and liberating all at once. Think of how much power is in like, retweet, comment or share. A lot! Sadly, most of the population online is so preoccupied with getting their ego stroked, they often forget who they really are. I know a lot of people who are not who they say they are on social media, and I'm sure you do too.

Whether you realize it or not, know that you are constantly marketing yourself; you are a walking billboard! Your updates, networks, the things you like, the comments you post, places you check-in to, your photos, your "about" section -they all say something about you in a very public way. Take few minutes to analyze if your feed reflects the image you want portray. If the answer is no, here are a few suggestions to get started on cleaning it up:

• Study your privacy settings and use them accordingly
• Take advantage of friend "lists" on Facebook! You can make a list for family, co-workers, close friends - etc. In my opinion, they shouldn't be seeing the same things all the time.
• Select your friends carefully; if your list consists of a ton of strangers you never even speak to, it may be time to let them go- OR- perhaps they deserve to be on a separate list all on their own. I use social networks for marketing purposes, so if you're like me, chances are you can't avoid strangers completely. Again, use your privacy settings accordingly!
• People use your drama as conversation starters- off line. Yes, they do. Stop giving people a reason to talk about you.
• If you're looking for work and/or want to be taken serious in your profession - keep it professional! I guarantee employers are searching your name on social networks as soon as they receive your resume. Your profile picture says a lot. So do your last 20 tweets describing what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner and how bored you are.
• Want to have better conversations online? Great! Talk with people not at them. It's great that you have an opinion on latest gay rights issue, but in order to talk about it with your network, you have to open that door. Instead of saying "I support gay rights" try something like "When the term "marriage equality" is really broken down, all that is left is love. Wouldn't you agree?" - if that doesn't work, try something different next time. The point is not to create a dead end in a potentail two-way conversation.
• It's okay if you have nothing to say. Keep that to yourself too :)
• Most importantly, keep it real. There's no need to fake it online and you will be awfully embarrassed when your true colors are discovered; you can only keep the lying for so long.

On the flip side - maybe you don't give a rats ass about how any social network makes you look - and that's okay too. Keep on keepin on.

-Dais