Keep Your Frolleagues Separate on LinkedIn?
Posted by paulstallard on August 24, 2008
My dear friend and freelance PR Josie Pearson sent me an interesting article the other day by Andy Coote which is well worth a read. According to the piece LinkedIn states that we should all be keeping a ‘separate account for socialising so that business contacts don’t mix with friends’.
The problem, it seems, is that we feel that we cannot refuse requests by our colleagues to connect online and then go ahead and post material which neither group should be privy to. Andy quite rightly suggests that we might be better looking at it in a slightly, but critically different, way. In a world when it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep our professional and social lives separate, Andy argues that to manage our online reputation effectively, we should think very seriously about what we release into the wild.
philszomszor said
Good point Paul. I’ve previously thought that you should always keep the two separate, but I’m coming around to a different view: in the future the lines will be so blurred that people will just have an online identity and just be careful about what they put out there – just look at the way people use Twitter for proof of it.
Jo Baker said
That’s why I have a facebook account for my mates with totally inappropriate material and Linked in for my work persona. Never the twain shall meet!
paulstallard said
Phil I know exactly what you mean and it is why I don’t have a Facebook profile. Working in PR we all understand the importance of managing online reputations so I am always careful, where ever possible, to manage what I put out there about my good self.
Ari Herzog said
Do You, like LinkedIn, Frown at Frolleagues?…
Following-up on my post yesterday about separating Facebook friends from LinkedIn connections, I’m watching a debate brew in the United Kingdom and I’m curious why it hasn’t crossed the Atlantic.About……