A quick social media reality check courtesy of Communications Overtones:

Certainly, social media tools can lead some people to believe that they are much more popular than they actually are. And many have amassed a small, or even fairly large following online. There is nothing wrong with it, but as in all things, this attention can be used for the good or for self aggrandizing.

My advice to communicators is to remember that the tools, while interesting and important, are never the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to be an effective communicator.

Amen, sister. Thanks for that.

Image via Wikipedia

Drew and crew at Daily Axioms asks a great question and offers up a word of caution about displaying your personal information on the interwebs:

…have we become too comfortable with transparency? Are we ringing the dinner bell, ready to serve up our personal info? …what could a malicious person do with all of this easily accessible information?

To be honest, this is not something I started fretting over until I read someone’s Tweet about how they never use their real birthday when setting up their online accounts or profiles. Seems birthdays are a very easy way to hack into someone’s account. And when you think about what recently happened to Sarah Palin and Miley Cyrus, it does get a tad scary.

Lately I’ve been having more and more conversations to the score of “Yes, people can use what you put on the web against you” and “No, you don’t have share every detail of your life on Facebook, in fact, don’t.”

I take for granted that I (thanks to my husband) hear lots of stories about how the net can come back to bite you. So I’m cautious, if not obsessive, about what personal info, quotes and photos are out there bearing my name.

Again, blogger Drew says it quite well:

Now more than ever it is extremely important to be mindful of what kind of information we provide, and how we provide it. If we tweet our home address, that information will always be out there for people to find for years. Mistakes and slip-ups are very possible with the level of comfort many now feel online. I believe it is important that you are truthful and real with people you interact with online, but building online brand identity and equity doesn’t mean you have to risk your safety or future.

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