The MySpace Cast - Part 1 of 2
July 14th, 2008This cast gives guidance for managers’ use of Social Networking Sites like MySpace and FaceBook.
If you’re one of our younger listeners, members, or premium subscribers, with less than 5 years in the workforce, chances are you have a MySpace or a FaceBook page. You stay in touch with friends, let people know what you’re doing, share photos, put yourself out there.
And you may have trouble, too.
OR … you’re a manager with one of those people working for you.
And you may have trouble too.
Learn how to get out of trouble in this cast.
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July 14th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Interesting take on the situation. There was one red flag that popped up in my mind as I was reading the show notes (I haven’t listened to the cast yet so what I’m referring to may be in part two).
Maybe you think this is so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said but, in the part where you’re talking about how it’s OK for a manager to look and draw conclusions my immediate thought was to make absolutely sure that you’re looking at the right person’s page. It sounds obvious, it is obvious, but there have been a number of times that people have mentioned things that they said they saw in one of my blogs but it was actually in a blog run by someone with the same name and a similar background.
Fortunately, so far, everything has been pretty innocuous. I do worry, however, that one day it may not be.
Stephen
July 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
This was a good reminder to continue the cleaning process. I’m in the process of changing my career direction from working with mostly college students to a regular professional environment (ish). So I’ve been cleaning up my profiles.
The sooner you start this the better. Facebook is very easy to use but takes it takes forever to delete stuff. So if you’re serious about having a professional looking profile you need to set aside a good solid block of time to go through all the different areas.
Lincoln
July 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Something else you need to remember is that just because you deleted something doesn’t mean it’s gone. Google caches pages for a time and there is even a site dedicated to storing as much of the history of the web as possible by storing old versions of pages (www.archive.org).
The web has a long memory, For example see how M-T looked on 17th July 2005 or how Microsoft.com looked on 20th October 1996. Then enter your blog URL and see how far back pages are stored for it.
Stephen
July 14th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Stephen-
Point taken! You’re completely right, and we regret not having said it.
Mark
July 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
As I real life testimonial, I have absolutely moved someone from the Yes/Maybe pile to the No pile after looking at his or her MySpace page.
I’ve seen people who belong to Myspace/Facebook groups focused on drug use. I’ve seen someone put his mug shot on his page. I’ve seen blogs that are unreadable because they have so many misspellings.
However, I disagree with you on two points:
1. I do judge someone based on the company they keep. I wouldn’t look at a friend of a friend’s page and make a judgement from that, BUT if you have no real life friends and 100 bikini-clad Maxim girl friends … well, let’s just say that I do draw some conclusions based on that.
2. I find that the vast majority of people’s pages are private (viewable only by their friends) so I personally don’t automatically think “they have something to hide” when the page is private. Maybe I’m in the minority on that.
Thanks for the cast. Very interesting stuff.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Stephen,
As for caching on the net … I think you’ll be pleased to see we addressed it in part 2.
Mike
July 14th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Just a small point. LinkedIn is incredibly popular in Europe. Xing (previously OpenBC) is incredibly popular in Germany.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi Mike and Mark,
Thanks for this cast. You’ll be happy to know I just spent the last hour cleaning up my Facebook page!
On that topic, have you thought about making a “Manager Tools” group on Facebook? There are so many people on FB that could benefit from your content. Not like you don’t have enough to do already! Anyways, just a suggestion.
Thanks for all the great work!
-Sean Simplicio
July 14th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I am in the over forty crowd and most all of our staff are under thirty. My wife and I are the only ones without MySpace pages. Some how they all seem to have time to work on the MySpace page while they are at work. (Funny its not in the job description.) I’ve blocked MySpace on the computers with some success. Actually we need to access MySpace pages for evidence in divorce and custody cases. I
I actually busted a secretary once. While doing routine maintenance on her computer I accidentally sent the browser to her MySpace page and while she did not have time to get the work done, she put together an elaborate MySpace page and was complaining (a nice way of saying f’ bomb.) about all the work I was giving her to do. all these posts were while she was on my time. Needless to say I skipped the late stage coaching and her tenure came to end the next morning.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Gentlemen,
Great cast with a lot of timely advice. In my line of work - public relations - it’s actually becoming a professional hindrance NOT to have a social networking profile, so any advice like yours on how to do it right is a help.
I wanted to add a couple of small points that may help others:
1. Set a limit on the number of online profiles you have. You don’t want something out there that you’ve forgotten about. I use LinkedIn (professional), Facebook (social), plus Twitter and FriendFeed for communication, and routinely turn down “friend” requests that require me to join other networks.
2. Beware the “junkyard” appearance that sets in with your Facebook profile. Periodically remove any applications, groups, games etc. that you’re no longer interested in. It’s easy for these Facebook add-ons to mushroom when you get requests to join them from friends, and while they’re not necessarily damaging, it’s better for professionals to have a more clean look to their pages.
Looking forward to Part 2 next week.
Kyle
July 15th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Thank you for the informative and entertaining cast, as always, Mike and Mark!
I’m in my mid-twenties. In addition to my daily personal Facebook use, I’ve become intimately familiar with the ecosystem as a developer of a restaurant-oriented application.
I wholeheartedly agree that a social networking profile is an influential personal branding medium that should be thoughtfully used and maintained. Here are a few insights that might be helpful for the community:
- Facebook users can sort their friends into groups with different privacy settings. For example, I place my professional contacts in a group without access to specific photo albums. Facebook enables users to take a granular approach to privacy control; this is one example. To the great question Mark raised in the cast, I would accept my boss’s friend request and place her in a group with the appropriate privacy settings. (All this being said — of course, I still wouldn’t post incriminating photos of myself anywhere on Facebook.)
- To the thought-provoking question Mike raised: I consider the term “friend” on Facebook to actually mean “acquaintance.” As such, I wouldn’t jump to conclusion about a person based upon a handful of questionable folks she is friends with (a la Mike’s relative).
In response to Sean’s suggestion that Manager Tool’s create a Facebook Fan Page, I second it! Please let me know if I can help with its creation. Doing so would be my pleasure.
Scott
July 15th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I work for a not-for-profit company that cares for youth. We have had to address this on two fronts.
1. Teaching youth how easy it is to give predators on the web too much info and they can track you. Like wearing your school t-shirt in a picture, talking about cheerleading practice and your new car. That is enough info for someone to find you.
2. We are not discouraging our employees from having a MySpace site. We suggest they keep it private. This servers two purposes:
a. If we can easily see something that we consider poor taste or goes against our mission, they risk their employment. We are asked to be examples for the youth we serve.
b. By policy we don’t allow the youth on the internet. But, home visits, trips to the library, they find ways. If a staff makes a youth their “Friend” there are boundary issues that can ensue.
I tell my employees that if they think that anything on their site might be considered offensive, take it off or make your site private.
This is a long way of saying, I agree with what you are saying.
-JR
July 15th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Scott/Sean,
Perhaps we can talk off-line about your ideas for the Manager Tools Facebook Fan Page, but there is now a start (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manager-Tools/18728507678).
Thanks for the suggestion!
Mike
July 15th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Great cast - is there any topic you don’t cover?
Myspace cost someone a job with me once. They told me to have a look at their demo reel via their myspace page. Not only did I have to search the messy page to find out which video I should be looking at - but the guy had bikini models as his wallpaper and photos.
I like bikini girls as much as the next guy but as a manager how could I think anything but: “This guy isn’t a good fit for our department. How are his (female) coworkers going to feel about this?”
July 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am
And there you go … someone has already taken issue with someone’s picture on the Fan page. Frankly, I don’t like the picture either. However, as far as I can tell, I can’t do much about it within FaceBook.
I’m not sure what that says about FaceBook as a community building platform — a platform where the community can’t enforce a minimum set of standards of behavior? Although I can think of a lot of things worse than this particular photo, I’m not digging the lack of some ability to moderate.
Someone please tell me I’m wrong.
Mike
July 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
You’re wrong!
Just kidding. But seriously, are you suggesting we vote people off the island based on their profile picture? What kind of enforcement would you like to have in place? You can set up a private group and only allow people in that meet certain standards, but that’s not the spirit of community building either.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Thanks for creating the page, Mike! Looks great!
Here is Facebook’s response to the question “How do I remove or ban a fan?”
“At this time, there is no way to remove or ban a user from being a fan of your Page. However, if a fan is abusive, you can block them from posting content on your Page. To do so, please click on the “Block” link found underneath the posted content. Additionally, you can report the user or the user’s postings on your Page to us by using the appropriate report links. We will review the reported material and remove anything that violates our Terms of Use. If warranted, we will either warn or disable the user.”
I’m surprised that Facebook doesn’t enable an Admin to remove a fan. As a workaround in this rare case, perhaps an individual message could be sent to the offending fan to express gratitude for their support, but concern over the repercussions of their photo for the organization.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
The premise that setting a standard is not in the spirit of community building is ridiculous. In fact, it is the setting of the standards that build the community you want.
*RNTT
July 16th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Fantastic cast!
I actually had the experience of a potential employer visiing my MySpace page and making inferences from the content on my profile. Luckily it all worked out well but as a 22 year old with limited professional experience it was quite the wake up call. I blogged about my experience and some of my thoughts on the issue shortly after (http://tessatessa.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/why-im-opening-up-the-space-and-not-censoring-the-face/).
My take on the issue is that different social networking sites serve different purposes. LinkedIn is a professional site. I would never dream of putting content on LinkedIn that was anything less than professional. I see MySpace as more social and therefore more liberal (having said that, I would never put anything up that I would be embarrassed if my mum saw). While I accept that a potential employer may draw conclusions about me from a MySpace page, I would also expect that they view the page in context.
Very keen to hear part 2 of this discussion
Tess
July 16th, 2008 at 12:50 am
A quick update … the owner of the offending picture was very kind and agreed to remove the picture. A completely professional and community-oriented gesture by Mark Mc.
Thanks Mark!
Mike
July 16th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Now that people can add the M-T page to their Facebook profile if an employer sees it on your profile they know that you at least have some knowledge of good management. Whether you practice it or not is another issue.
LDR
July 16th, 2008 at 3:50 am
In response to the part of the cast of others “tagging” you in Facebook and automatically linking that photo of you that you don’t want in your profile, instead of removing the friend off the profile you can click “remove tag” on the photo.
This takes away the link of the photo connected to your profile
. Unfortunately it does not delete the photo off your “friend’s” profile.
Fantastic cast and fantastic new “Fan Group”! Thank you!
Jorrian Gelink
July 16th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Don’t forget about the “Three Topics Not Suitable for Polite Company”: sex, religion, and politics. Especially if your views or activities are outside the mainstream culture. Even if you remove mention of them from your own page, viewers may judge you based on the company you keep, and draw the conclusion that if many of your friends are into X, you are probably into X too.
I know of one case where a person lost out on a job opportunity because he had information about his out-of-the-mainstream activities on his personal website (not MySpace/Facebook). The potential employer was not offended, but was concerned that their clients might be offended, and went so far as to tell him so. The person is an authority on a technical topic, and so clients would be likely to Google him. The personal website is now gone, but so is that opportunity.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Mike and Mark
Thank you kindly the cast. One of the first things I do before selecting someone for a phone interview is do a name search on Google. Aside from the networking sites, people also have blogs and photo sites (e.g. flickr, smug mug, pbase) where the guidelines suggested in the podcast apply. Its probably worth searching for your name (and common variations) on Google to see what pops up. Basically - anything that goes on the internet should be assumed to be available to all regardless of claims to the contrary. Posting on the internet is like sending a postcard - only the contents get indexed, is available at the end of a search and is stored forever.
Thanks
Anandha
July 17th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Hi Mike and Mark,
As a long-time listener, I’ve always found your casts to be informative and entertaining. I hope I can return the favor, as you’ve bumped into part of my professional area of expertise. I work in new media/social networking/online community as the Online Community Manager for two major technology publications.
For me, having an account on social networking sites is not just personal — it’s also professional. If I don’t use or am not aware of all of these sites, I’m not doing my job. My professional colleagues feel the same, and I have a mix of bosses, co-workers, and non-work friends on my contacts/friends list. A few people earlier have mentioned that they’ve blocked social networking sites on their network, and that may be appropriate for their business. For me… posting content on twitter, Facebook, etc really is part of my job.
While there are probably some people who use MySpace still, most of the activity has moved on to Facebook, with a small but growing group on Twitter. I had a chuckle when you mentioned Friendster, as it’s been practically dead for a while. I agree that, at least here in the US, LinkedIn is the place for professional networking.
Facebook actually has extensive privacy settings that allow you to decide what is viewable to the public, or to just your friends. You can also go beyond that, and set permission on items for different groups of people. This allows me to set up a profile for my co-workers, and one for my personal friends. I do agree that extreme caution could be taken (after all, you never know who knows who, or who is looking over someone’s shoulder at your page), but the privacy settings are more extensive than you indicated in your cast.
Finally, I do agree with your suggestions. I do volunteer work with college-aged women, and I am always telling them that, as they graduate, they need to clean up their pages. I know many college advisors that simply print out a student’s MySpace and Facebook pages and hand them back to the student when they are asked to provide job references for the student.
I guess my point is that yes, you’re right — you need to be careful what you put of yourself out there. But at the same time, for some of us, participating in these things really is part of our profession, not simply a personal pursuit.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hi guys,
Great to hear that you will include a reference to the power of search engines to also find cached info. There is nothing private on the net and harly anything gets lost. I am still able to find my newsgroup posts from the early years (1993 and onwards).
And yes, I will not invite a candidate (currently five open positions) whose Hyves-page (the hugely succesful dutch competitor of MySpace) proves that that person does not know how to behave in public. Would you want your organization to be associated with or even represented by such a person?
Finally some minor points. I had also never heard about Xing though I live next door to Germany where - according to the English custom - they speak a beautiful dutch dialect. And in the dutch (not deutch or german) language it is impossible to be anti-social in your own house unless you are attacking someone who is in your house trying to correct your asocial behavior.
Keep up the good work.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Isn’t it a little ironic that Mike’s page on Facebook (as mine) is not public - ie is only viewable if you are a chum? Hmm, should I judge you harshly and assume you have something to hide? .
I use facebook to keep in touch with Open University courses etc - the fact I have only 3 friends on it rather proves that! But as I’m nearing 50 I doubt the warnings here are applicable to me - days of drunken parties are long gone.
But the warnings of remembering what you publish on the net could come back to haunt you is timely. Blogs are all part of it. And so are the pages on your forums. The Internet is public - it’s how it works - so this is an excellent warning and reminder to us all no matter what our age.
On the Dutch-German border, Lansink? I recently was on business in Oldenzaal, also near the border. Wonderful place. A pleasure to visit.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hi all,
This is surely a main topic in managing your branch within the internet users: all the world!
Additionally, googling someone’s name might bring unexpected surprises – real or not - but this is something no one can control!
Always improving effectiveness ; )
Paulo
July 19th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
We had an interesting discussion on this subject at a conference I was at this week (Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)). The gist was that relatively open Social Networking sites, like Facebook (which is what ESIP uses), have a tremendous role in helping virtual organizations function and maintain connections. A couple of very positive discussions happened this week in part because some of us had become more comfortable knowing others as people and the level of trust in the relationship had increased as a result of the casual interactions through Facebook. This simply reinforces Mike & Mark’s point of the value. The cautions they presented were also discussed, which is a good thing.
As for the question of what level of judgments are made based on friends, my thought is that I would not make much of a conclusion about one or two friends being outside of business-normative values, but I would come to a conclusion if I saw a pattern of behavior in a candidate’s friends.
I also agree with the point above that maintenance of one’s social networking pages is something to be kept strictly off-hours.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
You have to be so careful about what you post online.
-Ron
http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1975
August 5th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Good choice of topic and a timely discussion.
I most certainly agree with the notion of a social networking page being an extension of ones public persona. Even down to the people that you know and hang out with.
It´s the how to deal with it and evaluate it part of your discussion that troubles me a bit.
I know views on alcohol and professionalism in the US are pretty orthodox and your conversation confirms that. Europeans generally have a more relaxed attitude. Glassy eyed pictures from a night out won´t taint your plaque at least not in northern Europe.
The whole subject of being able to sanitize your public appearance is also a very American issue. We all know and even care about people of questionable reputation. They may have come into our existence in school, during moments of crisis or be a part of our family. Trying to abolish them is neither realistic nor a sign of good character. Heck I´d argue that anyone familiar with a broad spectrum of people from all walks of life must have useful experience.
That said, being candid about who you are and where you come from doesn´t mean you can be an ass and post the pictures as well. Looking forward to pt 2.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
PS.
I was going to add anecdotal evidence from my working past that some of the best drinking parties I´ve been to were at work! My bosses love to buy some beer and invite everyone to stay on after work and knock back a few.
At recruitment visits my student organisation organised when in college, it was expected that companies have beer and wine to offer the students after (sometimes during) presentations. It made for very relaxed mingling afterwards!
August 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Sverrir-
Some of the best parties I’ve ever been to were also with work associates, and I’ve often witnessed alcohol-fueled frivolity (ans worse).
And YET… doing it is normal. Sharing it is acceptable. BROADCASTING it is just stupid.
Mark
August 5th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Point taken.
August 14th, 2008 at 5:55 am
.. and you definitely don’t want to make nationals news:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24178950-421,00.html?referrer=email
“I find it funny that all of these people are commenting on me, saying I’m a terrible role model, and yet none of them have ever been into my classroom and watched me teach and see how I interact with the kids,”
“We talk about educating children about the internet, but I think the department needs to educate their teachers on cyber safety and what’s appropriate for a teacher to share online.”
- Ash
November 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Mike and Mark,
Will do. Meanwhile, what are your thoughts about LinkedIn where expanding your presence and your current employer’s presence can be at odds? Also, to what degree do you as a boss not want to be LinkedIn several layers of management below your current role? I just finished your career crisis email cast and this one, as I catch up… Was wondering about your take on seeing an employee suddenly reaching out to online sites - Pretty obvious tip off to crisis and change?
November 15th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
JFarrall-
I have seen no concern from employers regarding employee use of LinkedIn. NONE. If you go further and say on your page that you are looking for a job, that’s different.
I don’t mind MANY layers of management lower than me linking to me. I would ASSUME that they know that their connection with me through the company takes FAR more precedence than a one-step connection on LinkedIn, and they would not attempt to develop a relationship with me that trumped normal organizational relationships. While it’s incumbent upon the lower level employee to be respectful of organizational norms, it’s ALSO expected of more senior folks to be open and make intelligent decisions about communication media and venues.
Mark