In the world of online reputation management, one of the things that you have the most control of is your social media profiles. The sad thing is, a lot of people don’t consider what a post will do to their reputation. On several occasions, we have seen many posts that make us cringe. It is not necessarily what the post was about so much as what implications it will have. While you are young, you may not see the harm of posting pictures of you next to naked. However, when you get older you will likely not feel the same. In a recent study, people were shown posts that they made over ten years ago. They were asked to comment on how it made them feel. In nearly every case they said that they were embarrassed by the post. So, you may think that picture of you at a party drunk as a skunk will never come back to bite you, but it will. If you don’t think that your past can catch up with you, ask anyone that has ever run for political office or tried to become a judge. Everything that you do will come back to haunt you at some point. It is much easier for that to happen today than any other point in history. All that being said, let’s take a look at some of the things you can do and some of the things you need to avoid at all costs.

Dos

Below is a list of things that we feel you need to make sure you are doing in order to avoid any embarrassing conversations in the coming years.

1. Privacy Settings – While this can do some good, it is not the end all be all protecting your privacy. The number one way to do that is to not overshare. If you are going to share your life, you need to make sure that only the people you want to see it, can. Each medium has its own special way to set this. Please take the time to look at all of them and ratchet it down as far as you like. We like to make it hard for anyone outside our friends to see it. However, the final decision is yours. If you don’t mind the world seeing your pictures from the beach, then don’t adjust your privacy settings. Alternately, if you only want your friends and family to see it, make those adjustments as well.
2. Think Before You Post – Basically, we said all that we needed to in the opening paragraph. This is just a gentle reminder that you need to think about what you are posting. If you wouldn’t show the post to a nun, then you probably should not post it. This is not to say that you are not allowed to post your feeling on a subject. It only means that you should consider the ramifications of the post prior to hitting the post/tweet/send button.
3. Be Selective – This goes for both posts and pictures. So, if you have taken the above two steps, then you are now on the third step of making sure your privacy is protected. Just because an application suggests someone you should add does not mean you have to. Likewise, just because someone sends you a friend invite does not mean that you must accept it. Be very selective in who you allow into your inner circle. While it is true that these applications are meant to socialize with people from all over the world, it doesn’t mean you are required to.
4. Grammar – For the individual, it is not as important to worry about grammar. However, if you are using the account as part of a work profile, then you need to worry about it. That is not to say that an individual can make a post full of grammatical errors. You must think of a time when someone might see what you are saying that can help you get a job. Employers want educated people. If you can’t differentiate between their, they’re, and there, then you will probably be passed over when they are looking for an employee.

Don’ts

Now we are going to move on to the things that you absolutely shouldn’t do when you are using your social media accounts. We would say the opposite of the above is bad, but that is a little vague. Instead, look at the list below.

1. Arguing – It is rarely, if ever, worth it to get into a war of words with someone on the internet. You are not going to change their mind, and they are not going to change yours. Just agree to disagree and move on with your life. Trust us when we tell you that nothing good can come from an online argument. It will make both of you look bad.
2. Misuse Hashtags – There are hashtags that are meant for serious situations. If you use one of them for a joke, you might have a lot of explaining to do. Take for example the Me Too movement. If your spouse tells you that they are hungry and you take to Twitter and post, “Spouse says they are hungry #MeToo,” that would be bad. This is a serious campaign about rape and sexual harassment. Understand? Good.
3. Avoid Social Media – By this point you are likely thinking that you would be better off without the internet. While that may be true, the fact remains that you need an online presence. The only way that you are going to get a job in the future is to have that presence. If they can’t find out about you, then they will move on to someone they can find things out about. Sure, it is an invasion of privacy a little bit, but it is the way things are now. Just make sure you have visible social media accounts that they can look at.

Conclusion

Social media really is a double-edged sword. When you learn to wield it, then great things can happen. Mishandling it can be catastrophic. If you follow the advice, we have given you above, then you should be good to go.