Personal vs. professional

With the potential of being YouTubed at any moment, we know that every move we make inside or outside the library could be seen by our customers.

We also know that every move we make, either personal or professional, is a PR move.

That being said, should employers have the right to say,
"You can't post that to your site!”

I am not being scandalous. I haven’t documented my drinking binges (OMG, have I?!) or taken videos of the dog fights I host. I’m just thinking that sometimes things I say might be misconstrued when taken out of context.

I have brought this on myself…back in the beginning, I accidentally sent out Facebook invites to everyone in my e-mail list. (What a n00b!) While not intentional, that move suddenly combined my professional and personal lives. What’s more, I have always used my real name so that no one else could sign up for accounts using the name Bobbi Galvin. I still think that’s smart, but the down side is that if you search the social sites for my name, the person you (or future employers) will find is, well…me.


We already know how librarians behave after hours and that most of our stuff wouldn't be appropriate for customer consumption (so offensive, we are!) but…

What about police officers? Should they be posting their personal opinions about local politics, or Facebooking their pics, filled beer glasses in hand?

What about the teacher who quotes song lyrics with profanity in them?

Finally, how about the co-worker who has a nearly pornographic online personal ad?

“A recent survey of 950 HR professionals and business managers reveals almost a third check up on employees …by looking at what they post on social networking sites (Steria.com).

• As a supervisor or co-worker, how do you handle this?
• Could something one of your employees says on their personal site be held against them professionally?
• Do you look at employee sites?

No matter if I am posting personally or professionally, I still go with Mom’s #1 rule:
“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Thanks, Mom! That’s probably saved me a time or two…personally AND professionally.
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