Recently I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. If you've ever tried to do that you know that it's kind of complicated to delete it permanently and you always have the option to come back if you don’t really, really (REALLY) mean it. I didn't really mean it but I wanted to see how the break from Facebook would help me. As I was off of it, I thought about all the bad and good stuff that using social media has brought into my life. And I kept coming up with the good far outweighing the bad. I've met really interesting people via social media, I've done interview requests by using it, I've followed some people I admire and have been able to contact them. I've used it to advertise my side projects. But most importantly, I've made a very important professional contact that I value more than anything. As much as I'm struggling to admit it, Facebook was not so bad for my professional life. So I went back and I've no intention of disappearing just yet.

In her column How to Use Social Media to Find a Job, Krystal Yee talks about what we've talked about here at Poss.ca almost nonstop for months now: using social media to enhance your career, through Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, and so on. Yee talks about her own success in using social media -- from finding a real estate agent to talking to an editor about a potential freelance gig -- and mentions a survey that found 68 per cent of employers would hire a candidate based on what they've learned about them via social networking sites. Whether this an accurate number or not, the fact is that everybody and their dog checks out your online self so you better be prepared to vouch for whatever is on there. Yee suggests positioning yourself as an "influencer" -- someone who creates his or her own brand by talking (Tweeting) about things that interest you, creating your image as an expert in a given field on social networks. Following Twitter accounts of people you admire and may want to work for is another idea; even joining Twitter to get first-hand info about industry events and gossip can assist you. Whatever you end up doing, don't be a stranger and get used to considering this media as yet another step to getting you the job you dream of.

Jowita

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Recently I came across a LinkedIn profile of someone I knew who had clearly made up some of the information on his profile. How did I know? I used to work with this person. It was sickeningly fascinating to read the fiction tale of this person's achievements (at least at the place where we had worked together). In any case, it inspired me to write to LinkedIn to see what their policies are about subscribers fabricating their resumés. I quote below:

"We take these matters very seriously. Once [we have] the information requested below, the LinkedIn Privacy Team will review the profile and take appropriate actions on any content that violates our terms of service. We are continually adding new technologies and security protocols to prevent this type of abuse. You can consult the User Agreement's current list of LinkedIn User Do's' & 'Don'ts to find out what's considered inappropriate.

By and large, the 120 million professionals who have set up a LinkedIn profile do so to give an accurate report of their professional lives and careers and create their professional profile of record. It actually is not in a person’s best interest to embellish his LinkedIn profile. Recruiters and hiring managers will look to corroborate candidates’ information, and connections in the member’s network will likely be aware of any falsehoods in his profile. For the rare case of misrepresentation on LinkedIn public profiles, we provide a flag button, which has been effective in creating a self-policing ecosystem. Our privacy team addresses flagged content on a case-by-case basis.'

I did ask what the "new technologies and security protocols" were but did not get a specific answer. I was also sent out a separate message asking for the name and details of the account in question but I don't feel comfortable doing LinkedIn's job and keeping their site safe and secure. At the same, I sympathize with their limitations and I understand that those limitations are exactly what allows social media to be relatively Big Brother-free -- after all, we don't need to submit our social insurance numbers or birth certificates to join. It's more less an honour system. But the whole model of social media falls apart when people take advantage of the system and put out lies.

Jowita

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Linkedin is like an annoying neighbor or colleague, constantly asking you to hang out when you'd rather just keep the relationship neighbourly. Hi, can I come over? Hi, have you had a chance to water your front yard? Hi, wanna have lunch? Hi, wanna read my poems? Hi, what's your mother's maiden name? Hi ... and so on. Before I joined Linkedin -- reluctantly and for an article I wrote for this online magazine -- I would always receive invitations from people on it which were as welcome as invitations from someone you'd rather avoid but who keeps showing up with such regularity that you finally go to his (or her) barbecue only to stand in the corner with your flat soda and very busy fantasies of living somewhere in a cabin in the woods. Alone.

It took me years to finally bring up my profile to "100 per cent complete," which seemed less of an accomplishment than writing a novel, for example, but one that took possibly longer to get done. But I'm a joiner not a fighter, I suppose, even though there are moments when I certainly felt I was being buillied into it all. It was with some short-lived triumph that I read The +s and –s: Imagining a World Dominated by Google+ by Joshua Errett in Now where he suggests that Google+ may just be the social media vehicle to exterminate Linkedin. My joy was short. The problem? Instead of Linkedin we'll now have Google+ to send us reminders, remind us about reminders, invitations, suggestions, and all the other evil that comes with being a member of the social media "elite."

I know this all sounds as if I were against progress -- if this is indeed progress -- but I'm not, I'm just suddenly experiencing what I'd like to call SMF disorder, or Social Media Fatigue Disorder, and those fantasies of living somewhere in a cabin in the woods, alone, are becoming more and more urgent. I know that in order to stay current and connected to the job market (to write for this magazine and to ensure future employment) I need to fight this disorder and accept it as reality and perhaps just build myself a nice virtual cabin somewhere deep, deep in the woods of the Internet.

Jowita

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Call me old-fashioned but I still think that targeting your resumé is where it's at when it comes to landing that perfect job. Applying for work is not a race and getting your resumé in first before anybody else should have no bearing of your chances of scoring an interview.

Consider this silly LinkedIn apply button that will let you send out your LinkedIn profile to a job opening with one click. Miriam Salpeter, the author of What LinkedIn's "apply" button may mean for job seekers points out that this will only mean that there will be more unqualified people applying and that this won't make the process any easier for anyone -- the applicant or the employer. The applicant will get lazy and the employer won't even bother with sifting through a pile of virtual garbage.

Because how could you possibly write out your profile so that it corresponds exactly with every job posting that comes up? It's impossible and no matter how accomplished you'll feel after sending out 150 resumés, it'll mean nothing in terms of getting a job. Ignore the "apply" button when it shows up and hope -- like I do -- that it will get removed before it launches. Unless the employer looks to work with a bunch of robots I doubt he/she will consider whatever comes through the LinkedIn "apply" channel. (Supposedly you will be able to tweak your LinkedIn profile once you apply so that it is more customized but wouldn’t that mean that you could still only do it for one employer only?)

Here at Poss.ca we always stress the importance of job targeting and we're 100 per cent behind writing out sometimes tiresome cover letters that address each job posting and employer as if they were the only job posting and the only employer in the world. And, having looked through avalanches of resumés before I can tell you that the date stamp on them meant absolutely nothing as to what ends up landing in the "Yes" pile.

Jowita

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A colleague told me recently about an iPhone feature called "Bump" where you exchange information with someone by bumping your phones together. Instead of old-fashioned business cards, you use this technology to connect with someone. I started asking around to see if anyone has used this interesting application but only one person had had some experience with it and she said she got rid of it because it was pretty pointless. "I was just bumping my colleagues at work because we all had it and it was like, 'I already know where you work, duh'," she said.

The tagline on the bump technologies website reads, "Get connected. Want to share something with a friend or someone you just met? Want to be able to text them for free? Bump your phones together." From what I have read online this app gained some popularity in the beginning when it was first released but enthusiasm died off quickly, and now it seems that the creators want you to fall in love with it all over, again. In the article Bump: Moving Beyond People to Places & Things, Mike Melanson recommends giving the app "a second go around the block." Melanson points out that beside exchanging contact information, "Bump can let two people share photos, calendar events, app recommendations and music and even quickly let you compare connections and follow each other on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn."

If you ask me, I'm happy with the abundance of social exchanges I already have, thanks to all the Internet social media I partake in. I'm also not an early adapter at all and don't even own an iPhone. Plus, I think it would be kind of awkward asking strangers if it's okay to, er, "Bump" our phones together. But that's just me.

As for the rest of you, Melanson's article dates to beginning of April of this year so it may be too soon to tell if the second time around is indeed the bump that Bump needs. It remains to be seen and I'll certainly keep my eyes open at the next job fair to see if people are bumping at all or if they still relay on good ol' business card.

Jowita

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Most job seekers know that current trends demand that CVs be straight to the point and, preferably, all-encompassing. Regardless of these conditions, your cover letter should almost never be more than a page long and your resumé should probably not exceed two pages. Neither your cover letter nor your resumé is an academic essay and even academic essays seem to be getting revolutionized in format length -- or at least there's some suggestion that they should.

I've read and marked a fair share of student essays and was always surprised at how unnecessarily complicated and long some of the papers seemed to be. But I knew where that was coming from -- academia's insistence on and tradition of long-form papers to explain sometimes short and sometimes fairly simple concepts. Hey, it wasn't that long ago that I used to write essays myself which seemed to require bibliographies of bibliographies and at least six dictionaries. Maybe it was my failing as a writer to write in such a complicated and lengthy way but it was how I was taught and trained.

In his great opinion piece Teaching to the Text Message, Andy Selsberg of The New York Times writes about the need to shorten not only academic papers but (any) message in general. Be it the influence of Twitter or texting, it's pretty obvious that we're getting more used to wording that is precise and concise. As Selsberg writes in his piece, there's just nowhere to hide with shorter, plainer sentences. Keep applying these principles to your cover letter, keep it short, and even if you're not as qualified as the guy or gal who brought a novella to the interview, your letter will probably have more chances of being read and noticed anyway.

Jowita

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I was talking about the Oscars the other night and my friend said she didn't watch them because she doesn't have access to a TV but she was following the award ceremony on Twitter. She said it was the most entertaining Oscars ceremony she's ever sat through and I couldn't have agreed more -- what I read on Twitter was way better than the lameness happening on the screen.

In this month's issue we talk about how Twitter can help you with your job search. It's a very powerful social medium that can make or break you in just under 140 characters. What you post may bring you fans and even job offers – especially if job hunting is your focus. But also, conversely, what you post on Twitter may affect your job and your finances, period. Earlier this month Courtney Love had to pay more than $430,000 in damages for irresponsible tweeting. Recently I've witnessed a Maclean's columnist get lynched in the virtual universe for a supposedly funny column (it was so not funny, trust me) that he had written. Within an hour, a link to the column was posted on Twitter and people started commenting on the column and criticizing the writer's lack of judgement. They condemned not only him but also the magazine that elected to publish the piece. The writer took down the web page and issued an apology before the clock hit noon, which was a great save and probably salvaged his career as well.

If you're a public figure (like a writer for Maclean's) and/or if you're looking for work and you're worried about keeping your reputation squeaky clean, don't play with Twitter too carelessly. Save your best tweets and opinions for the Oscars.

Jowita

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I like my job. Would I like to get paid more? Of course. Who wouldn't like to get paid more? But this is not a cry for help (boss), I'm just stating something that, as it turns out, is not such a rare state of mind for the average Canadian employee.

Most of us are happy with our jobs, would like more money, but have no plans to leave. In fact, 81 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their jobs and 88 per cent agreed they liked their co-workers (I'm in that group ... um, hi there, Ian and Kathy!). The statistics showed other trends; for example, networking scores really high and the hidden (unadvertised) job market emerges as the top outlet responsible for hiring.

Here at Possibilities we're aware of these new trends, and plan to spend this year immersing ourselves -- and you -- in the world of social (Internet) networking. Although the Internet itself scores third for hiring, it's a popular way of keeping in touch with not only your friends but also professional networks. For this month we've got a LinkedIn article, next month tune in to a Twitter how-to.

Jowita

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We don't just use Facebook to announce to the world that we had a great time at a party or are looking forward to the season finale of LOST. I've seen many of my Facebook friends post announcements about puppies for sale, free yoga classes, apartment hunting, and -- yes -- looking for work. So it's no surprise that somebody came up with a Facebook application that helps people find jobs ... sort of.

Here's the gist of it. The Workin' It application shares your education, work experience and skills and lets you search jobs and internships through Facebook. It also claims to allow you to network with professionals, let the world know that you're open to the right opportunity even if you're employed (isn’t that a bit of an employment suicide?), and -- here comes the creepy part -- it acquires access to your and your friends' profile information. This is so that you can network through your personal contacts, which may increase your chances of getting your foot in the door in the best-case scenario (in the worst, you might just get the door slammed on that foot of yours).

According to the Networkworld.com article, "Clicking on a friend's employer will display open job listings. Or, if there's a particular employer that interests you, you can type that name into the keyword search bar and available job listings-as well as your friends who work there-will be displayed." It'd be interesting to see if this new application takes off. At the time of writing this post, Workin’ It had 186 users and four reviews complaining about the application, well, not workin'.

Jowita

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If you're in the market for a job, you probably know to be careful about what you post on Facebook. But did you know that even if you're not looking for work, posting photos on social media sites can affect your livelihood?

Take the case of Nathalie Blanchard who suffers from major depression. Her sick-leave benefits were terminated by her insurance company, Manulife, after Blanchard made the unfortunate mistake of posting photos that showed her at a Chippendales bar show and on a sunny beach holiday. According to Manulife, these Facebook photos are evidence that Blanchard is no longer depressed.

The story certainly touched the nerves of a lot of Canadians. I waded through 22 of 139 pages (!) of comments on the CBC's story and recorded a few of the reactions:

a) Sympathy for Blanchard
Armedwithjello: Part of the rehabilitation process is self care and accepting help from friends and relearning how to find happiness in life.

b) Less-Than-Sympathy
TripolE: Regardless of whether or not she is depressed, anyone who has such a social networking page is opening themselves up a nice can of worms .... She is definitely guilty of poor judgement. (If you sift through the 692 comments you'll find others who were a whole lot less sympathetic to Blanchard's plight.)

c) Outrage at Manulife
Biopsychosocial: What if she was having an actual MOMENT of Happiness? Is that allowed while on disability? ... This is truly a PATHETIC attempt by insurance company to use ANY excuse they can to revoke someone's benefits.

d) Anger With a Twist of Sarcasm
MikeNike: If you have a bad back, all it takes is one picture of you carrying out your garbage and [you're] cut off. Apparently [you're] supposed to let the garbage pile up into a mini garbage dump or lose your benefits.

e) Advice Giving
Gary Cameron: [A]nyone who is denied benefits ... [should] find a lawyer immediate[ly] who will work on contingency. You are better off giving a lawyer a percentage of your claim then getting nothing.

f) Cynicism
My thoughts: Having had my own disability experience, I'm more than a little jaded about insurance companies. The kindest thing that my lawyer would say about these companies (yes, I followed Gary Cameron's advice) was that "they're dogs." The rest of her comments are not suitable for print.

For More Information:

• Mood Disorders Association of Ontario: Long-Term Disability Insurance Claims FAQ
• The Valleywag Guide to Restoring Your Privacy on Facebook

kathyo

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I would never dissuade job seekers from using social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn for networking -- never, ever. Not in this day and age. At the same time, I would not encourage people to desert traditional forms of networking. So, I was pleased to find others out there in the blogosphere who, like me, believe in the importance of connecting with people face-to-face.

Workplace columnist Anita Bruzzese thinks it’s smart to for networkers to use every tool at their disposal, both of the Web 2.0 variety, as well as conventional ones. “[M]ost employers tell me they still give much more weight to a job applicant who has personally been recommended by another employee or referred by someone they trust,” says Bruzzese. “That still appears to be the fast track to a job.”

In another Personal Branding interview, speaker and author Susan RoAne points out that "we are still humans who require relationships (professional or personal). It’s how our species is wired. This is why even Twitter sponsors ‘gatherings’ in some of the urban areas.”

Some further thoughts on networking:

• Don’t wait until you’re out of a job to network -- effective networking is a process that can (and should) be practised regularly.
• Build up your social skills in small, routine ways. For example, take the time to talk to the cashier as she rings through your bananas and toilet paper, or have a chat with fellow laundry washers at the local laundromat.
• Take business cards everywhere you go (except maybe the public pool).
• At social functions, don’t stick like glue to the people you feel most comfortable with. Instead, while milling around the cheese and crackers table, strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know.
• Join groups. Check out Toronto Meetup where you can hook up with people who share your interest in, say, cars, pool or jazz music.

kathyo

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When I was younger, I considered myself a bit of a Luddite -- in the broad sense of the term, that is. I didn’t like technology, had no use for it, would have been quite happy to use a quill pen.

During my first few years in university, I wrote most of my essays by hand. In my final year, I gave in and – get this – used a typewriter (this was the early 80s, after all.)

At my first full-time writing job where I pumped out stories on an old-time computer, I discovered cut and paste. C&P sold me on computers, but I was still a far cry from embracing technology.

Flash forward 20 years plus: technology is transforming both society and me. I’m finding a small revolution (or at least an evolution) in the way I think about all things technical.

To my bemusement, I have recently noticed my own budding interest in technology. Being an information junkie has nudged my interest along. All of a sudden, I find myself sending out Facebook friend requests, getting news through RSS feeds and, gulp, actually considering getting a cell phone.

Although I won’t be applying for web mistress jobs anytime soon, I have concluded that avoiding technology like the plague is a philosophy right out of the Middle Ages. So I’m learning what I can, reading up about technology (on the Internet of course) and asking my younger co-workers web-related questions.

By doing the latter, it turns out I am taking part in a trend called reverse mentoring. This is where younger employees mentor their older colleagues, with some companies actually assigning younger people as technology guides, says Ramon Greenwood in his Secrets of the Job Hunt blog. Greenwood refers to a survey that shows that four out of ten senior executives have asked younger associates for help with text messaging, social networking and using iTunes.

Reverse mentoring makes sense to me: Twitter, iPod and iPhones are probably as common to a twenty-something as televisions and landline phones were to me in my day. I recommend taking a look at Greenwood’s blog, though I must admit I take exception to being referred to as a “lost ball in tall weeds.”

kathyo

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Are friends and family on your case about your incessant touch-pad typing? If you're doing it at the dinner table or in the middle of a conversation -- they've probably got a point. Nevertheless, there are a few iPhone applications out there that can help you with your job search. Mashable: The Social Media Guide has a top ten list, but here are three of my favourites:

iJob (99 cents): According to Apple, this app allows you to search "millions of jobs from thousands of job boards, newspapers, classifieds and company websites all from your iPhone or iPod touch." Using your iPhone's GPS technology, the program automatically determines your location and searches within a specified radius of your position. With iJob you can save favourites and filter job results by category, company, title, industry and employee type.

Job Finder (99 cents): Instead of visiting multiple sites a day, you can rely on Job Finder to aggregate postings from various sites for you. With 73 categories to search through, just specify your location and other preferences, and the app organizes the information for you. You can then go about your search whenever and wherever (even from the dinner table, but you didn't hear that from me).

Interview Pro ($1.99): I like that this app not only supplies you with the 65 most asked interview questions, but it also provides sample answers for them. Interview Pro also lists "focus areas" that the interviewer expects you to touch on under each question (e.g., years of experience, education). You can also tag your favourite questions and easily review them on the go.

So the next time you're being chastised about your iPhone addiction, tell your friends to back off -- this is a business call.

SKY

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There have been two times in my life where I've scoured job boards daily -- nay, hourly -- and sent out tons of resumés, literally, as if it were my job to do so. It's exhausting, and worse, it feels ridiculously futile. You know how it is -- you spend tons of time on a perfectly crafted resumé and cover letter and when it comes time to hit "send," you think to yourself: Well, I'll never hear from you! Click!

If Einstein was right, and insanity really is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," we're all probably a wee bit crazy. Many of us are guilty of having used the resumé-churn-out method, knowing full well that it's pretty useless. Why? It makes us feel productive, and when you're out of work, that’s tempting. But there’s another way to feel fruitful that’s much more likely to yield new results: a people search.

Recently, I saw the "people search" method recommended on Mashable: The Social Media Guide (where it was rightly pointed out that "sometimes the listed jobs aren't available or never existed in the first place." -- grrrr), but it's also something I started to figure out on my own, between my (above) moments of insanity. Think of this as a step between searching and networking. Here's how Mashable's Dan Schawbel suggests you do it:

• Step 1: Identify the top five companies you'd like to work for. Make a list and research those companies.
• Step 2: Use search engines like Google, or even Facebook, to track employees who work at those companies. It's not as creepy as it sounds. Companies use the web to find out about you, so why not do the same?
• Step 3: Connect with employees (managers, ideally) directly, but don't ask for a job outright. (Tip: Use LinkedIn or other social networking sites to see if you know someone who knows the person -- this will increase the chances that your message will get noticed.)

Using these steps will yield a whole new list of contacts, some of who may not be able to offer you anything immediately. Nevertheless, getting your name out there puts you on the radar of managers who may eventually be in a position to hire. And you never know when that might be. So, take a break from the monster.ca-enduced insanity, and get your people search on.

SKY

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A friend, who is an editor at a health magazine, was recently talking about how she had to deal with a difficult freelance columnist. It wasn't anything that the columnist had done or wrote; in fact, it was what the columnist didn't write. The freelancer was behind on her deadline and said that she was sick and needed an extension. So my editor friend granted her the extension. The columnist forgot that they were connected via Twitter and it didn't occur to her that the editor could see her status updates. Her frequent cheerful status updates had nothing to do with running a high fever, they were more like about her running on a beach.

By now most of you have probably read about the Cisco fiasco: Twitter Gets You Fired in 140 Characters or Less. Unless you make your privacy settings private from the get-go, the stuff that you put up online via social networking sites may be read by anyone. Including your future (former) boss.

ttyl

Jowita

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I can't remember when I joined LinkedIn but I can tell you that although I've had my account for some time now I barely use it. According to Wikipedia "The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called "Connections." According to Wikpedia job seekers can use it to research potential employers and to see if there are any shared connections between them to see if that would make introductions easier.

Although a member of LinkedIn, I've never taken full advantage of it as I found its maintenance too time-consuming, having already been so used to other social networks and to plain old face-to-face networking. Now, please keep in mind that this is my personal experience with LinkedIn. I am a firm believer that in this Internet age each one of us has a limit when it comes to the amount of connecting possibilities -- I have reached mine with Facebook and I simply never got into LinkedIn. This is not to say that you won't. Maybe you're more of a LinkedIner than a Facebooker.

I use Facebook. I have used it to introduce people to each other or to introduce myself to people who may be good business connections. I have also used the Google search engine to research potential employers and companies.

Like Facebook and MySpace and everything else out there, LInkedIn is only as safe as you make it. There's a good article about safety on social networking sites and how to ensure that they work for not against you. For example, LinkedIn offers ways to restrict some of your information and you can close off access by others to your own network of contacts, or limit your work history details.

ttyl

Jowita

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Just when I barely get the Facebook thing figured out a lot of my friends have moved on to Twitter. When I first heard about Twitter awhile ago, I thought: Why would anyone ever want to do it? I thought there was no way this medium would become huge. There has to be a limit to how many ways people expose their lives to the world, no? I was wrong.

In case you don't know, Twitter is a social network where you can update your current status throughout the day with messages up to 140 characters in length. By "your current status" I mean what you are currently doing, with whom, what you are reading, what you are thinking, what you are eating, what ... and so on. You get the idea. Naturally, it will get boring pretty quickly if you update it with gems like:

• Jowita is at work
• Jowita is writing her blog
• Jowita is halfway through writing her blog
• Jowita will have lunch in 15 minutes
• Jowita is going out for lunch

(See how crushingly uninteresting this thing can get?)

In the article How Twitter Can Help at Work, Sarah Milstein, a Web 2.0 consultant, talks about some productive ways people are using Twitter accounts to make work connections and build up their businesses. Instead of posting mindless recitations of their day-to-day doings, they share ideas and use it to get feedback, run contests, repost others' great ideas and, of course, network. Twitter is not for everybody and certainly it will take up time, but if you're looking for more ways to stay connected in the work world give it a try.

Ttyl

Jowita

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I was perhaps the most resistant of my group of girlfriends to get on Facebook. I already had a MySpace page that I found used way too much of my time, and I've had more than my share of abandoned blogs bouncing around in the ether on the World Wide Web. Truthfully I find the need to constantly keep up with technology time-consuming and, well, tiresome. But I know that it is, at worst, a necessary evil and, at best, simply a way to keep up with learning about media ...

In the blog article Tech Terms Every Media Relations Professional Should Know the author, Heidi Sullivan, lists a number of terms that she says "impact public relations and media research in a significant way, along with a brief definition for reference." (I think these terms are useful for lots of office workers as computers are practically staple office furniture.) I was happy to see that I knew most of the terms but then I panicked at the thought that a year (or sooner!) from now, I'll have to know even more terms. I felt like this learning is never going to end ... Then I cheered up because I reminded myself that this is the beauty of learning -- it's never a thing of the past, it is always ongoing.

ttyl

Jowita

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It's interesting that this sort of article keeps coming up -- how to behave on social networks such as Facebook or MySpace. Online interactions aren't going away anytime soon. And because they're not going away any time soon they are becoming a part of our lives where our professional behaviour can be affected by our personal conduct. Still, surprisingly, people keep making the old mistakes of revealing way, way too much: posting drunk pictures of themselves, making risky comments about their place of work or about their co-workers and opening their pages to the public by being too lenient with their privacy settings.

In the blog article Top 10 tips on How to Avoid a Professional Embarrassment on Facebook the author, Heidi Sullivan, gives some priceless advice on how to behave in the virtual world. For example, she writes: "Check social networking sites often. I am always surprised at how much activity has occurred around my pages if I don't check Facebook or MySpace for a few days. If you neglect one of these sites, friends might be tagging you in photos that everyone shouldn't see, writing about your nights out on the town or worse. Keep up-to-date on what they are saying and doing by logging in regularly. You can also set up email notifications to inform you when there's activity on the page."

Go read the rest and learn the rules!

ttyl

Jowita

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Lately, I've had to spend a lot of time on a plane. I don't like flying but last time I flew I was grateful for a certain airline crew that was very professional and friendly and made it all quite a painless adventure. This is not always the case -- I've been on flights where passengers are scolded and barked at, where you want to cower in shame for daring to ask for water, or when you are lectured on the safety of blah blah blah. Anyway, passengers can be quite annoying too, I know, so it's no wonder that not all the members of a flying crew are ecstatic over their job.

But one British Airways crew seemed to go beyond dissatisfied. They formed a Facebook group where they made fun of passengers and called them all kinds of names. The BA Staff Brand Passengers "Smelly" on Facebook Page article lists some of the more interesting epithets that were passed back and forth between the crew ...

Which, by the way, is now no longer a crew, as all 13 members involved in that Facebook fun have been fired.

So, once again: Facebook + Work stuff = Big, fat NO!

ttyl

Jowita

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