Personal vs. Professional

Social Media is in the news, big time. Celebrities like Oprah are driving people to Twitter, users revolted (and organized) against Facebook using the same service. The Presidential Election was arguably won by a clever implementation of Social Media marketing tactics that enabled the execution of a national grassroots campaign strategy.

Experts advise that professional people stand up and lay claim to their brand, take control of it, and make it work in their favor. It's who you are and you shouldn't be afraid to let everyone know.

Or should you?

Occasionally the local news shares a story that strikes fear into the heart of Internet users everywhere. Someone found something online and did something horrible with it. This raises seemingly significant privacy concerns from claiming your Firstname Lastname as your brand. Who can see the information? What would they do with it? Can it be exploited? How do I balance claiming my identity with preserving my privacy?

My approach to the problem is to separate my personal and professional life - essentially separating my brands. Separation of brands creates a small headache in information management, but I'm willing to give up some ease-of-use to both promote myself and preserve my privacy.

A good litmus test to see what information others can see is to perform a simple google search on your name. First, Last, initials. Once you know what information is available, you can take steps to control it.