The risk of being a professional on a public social network

“Can I be your friend?” seems like a rather innocuous question. But, as a professional in the
world of public social networking, what you answer may have lasting effects.
By now most of us have heard the buzz about public social networking sites like Facebook.
Many have already joined and are participating on them, making “friends” and connecting
with others on the network. Online social networks are powerful software tools that allow
humans to take our need for connection and reach out far across time and space. The
popularity of these tools has penetrated deep into the lives of people everywhere, both
personally and professionally. While increased connection with humanity is a good thing,
there are many real risks and complex issues associated with the mixing of personal and
professional lives.

Facebook, the most popular public social network on the Web, has a myriad of tools that
allow you to find and connect with others across the globe. You are usually guaranteed to
find (or be found by) someone you know using the site. Are the people you know who use
Facebook personal friends? Professional friends? Both? “Why does it matter?” you may ask.
As a professional with a personal life, what you do and how you behave reflects upon you
and your business. In the offline world, our personal lives involve pursuing our passions,
hobbies, religion, politics, family, friends, etc. You know the saying, “Never discuss politics
or religion at the office. Save it for your personal life.” On a public social network the line
between professional and personal is blurred. Your life can become an open book visible by
many and, of course, everyone on your “friend” list. This is why the question, “Can I be
your friend?” or sending and accepting friend invites is so important.

Here’s a true story I received from a dentist friend in Florida: He, like many others, has a
Facebook account. He uses it to stay in touch with friends and family. One day, he received
a “friend request” from a patient. The patient was not a friend outside of the office. My
dentist friend thought about what he should do and decided to decline the request. The next
week, he received a call from the patient asking to transfer his records to another office.
Apparently, the patient was offended his request was not accepted. The intent of the doctor
was not to offend, but to only use the public site for personal purposes.

The next week I received a message from another doc in California who was using Facebook
not just for personal reasons, but also to set up a “fan page” for her office in order to
market her services. It turns out a disgruntled patient posted some unsettling comments on
the office “fan page” that were not seen until another patient contacted her about it. The
doc immediately disabled the “fan page.”

Another disturbing trend is the ability for public social networks to use your photo and
images for ads and third-party advertising campaigns. That’s right, your photo can appear
in an ad campaign for some company you may never have heard of, without you even
knowing it! These are just some of the real-world complexities and risks associated with
using a public social network as a professional.

Even if you take precautions and keep a low profile, many times a “friend” of yours may
post a picture of you and tag the picture with your name. (A tagged picture says who on the
network is in the picture). Are there any photos of you out there you would not want your
professional colleagues or patients to see? This is something to consider when entering and
using a public social network. It may seem one solution would be to have two accounts on
a public social network, one for personal use and one for professional use. However,
according to Facebook, “maintaining multiple accounts is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of
Use.”

It doesn’t stop there. Have you heard of spokeo.com? Spokeo.com is an Internet search
engine that searches public social networks like Facebook. Why is this important for
professionals? One word –, “privacy”.- Here are some disturbing quotes about spokeo.com:
“Spokeo searches people’s activities on sites such as Flickr, del.icio.us, Amazon…
sometimes turning up surprising material, from family albums to embarrassing shopping
lists.”–Vahini Vara | Staff Reporter WSJ

“It’s pretty surprising to find out what people (who you think you know) are listening to on
Pandora or Twittering about. The best part is they don’t have to know you’re keeping track
of them.”–Erick Schonfeld | Editor Tech Crunch

“Spokeo is designed to let you dig up information on friends, foes, and anyone in between.
Spokeo goes a step farther than many of the other services, though, by importing your
entire e-mail address book.”–JR Raphael | PC World

Anything you post on public social networks, whether it be updates, responses, replies,
comments, etc, is indexed and can be searched by a service like spokeo.com. Concerned
yet?

Many associations and organizations we belong to as professionals use public social
networks to create “groups” to encourage communication among members. While the
intent is to enhance professional communication for the benefit of the membership and the
association as a whole, the risk of mixing the personal with the professional is ever present.
Social networks, whether public or professional, are powerful tools. An understanding of
how they can be used most effectively is paramount to maintaining a safe, low-risk online
experience in all aspects of your life.

Dan Marut, DMD, seeing the need for a private, professional social network, founded
NewDocs.com, the professional social network for dentistry. Dr. Marut and his company are
available to answer any questions about social networking and assist associations and
organizations in establishing their own professional networks. He can be reached at
DanMarutDMD@newdocs.com or just find him on NewDocs. He’ll become your
1st“professional”friend!