Anyone who can turn on a computer these
days, at any age can log in to such social medias as Facebook, twitter, MySpace,
blogs, etc to find out what is going on in the world, with their friends,
family and keep up with fashions, celebs and the latest gossip. Businesses are
even finding it a great place to get new customers, clients, employees and
advertising because it is more cost effective then through newspapers, TV,
highway signs, etc.
Teens and young adults aren’t the only ones
caught up in the fun, entertainment and pastime of the social media. Baby
boomers and generation X (my generation) are also enjoying logging on or
signing in daily to check out the latest in people’s lives.
The other day I was talking with someone
and she related a story to me that really didn’t have anything to do with
social media, but it got me thinking about first impression and being online.
Here is the story and then I will explain how it made me connect the two.
She is a successful business owner and has
been for more than 20 yrs. Her and her husband have run everything from his
construction company, her licensed daycare to a group home, she was/is a freelance
writer and while running a 4 star country inn, for the past 5+ yrs, she has also
held a government position and on a few tourism boards.
She had been the girl’s dorm advisor in a
private school before it was shut down and upon its closing she found it had
been the most trying, stressful time and naturally, she was burnt out. Deciding
to take a couple months off of being her own boss and go waitress… you know a
no brain, just do what you are told job, so she could recover, before starting
on her new venture. She hadn’t waitressed for about 20 yrs but like riding a
bike, it would come back to her. After a couple months of this, she quit and
her and her husband started running a group home.
Years later after she had been well
established with working for the government, running the 4 star country inn and
on a tourism board, she decided to sit
in a coffee shop in her home town just to see what the locals were doing and
catch up on any local gossip. A man came to sit with her that she knew from her
job working in the government department and they chatted.
He brought up during the conversation about
this woman that was running the water district and how everyone had to pay much
higher water taxes because of her. This lady asked what he meant. He said that
thanks to this woman everyone had to pay higher taxes and he couldn’t figure
out why she had this power because she was just a waitress. The woman looked at
him stunned because he was talking about her! She was that woman that worked in
the water district office and she hadn’t waitressed in years and when she did
it was only for a couple months. She told him this, he didn’t believe her. Long
story short, even though she had not waitressed in over 10+ years, and was a
successful business owner and worked in a department of the government, today,
his first impression of her was as a waitress. She would always be just a waitress
to him and possibly everyone in that town, because she had worked in the public’s
eye that one summer.
This got me thinking about first
impressions online and in my life. With social media being made so public as
well as people searches done easily thanks to Google, Yahoo, Mozilla, etc, you
have to wonder about your first impressions on others. Thanks to places like Facebook
that hold information permanently it doesn’t matter what you said 3 years ago
or now because at any time a potential employer, business partner, client,
customer, or spouse could very well go on the internet to see what comes up for
your name and it might affect that relationship.
We are so worried about ID theft, predators,
stockers, etc, but what about that future boss or partner? Posting stuff could
be misunderstood, deemed inappropriate, offensive or hurtful is something that
we should be aware of. Do you really want that important client, future boss or
possible business partner finding something that you had posted when you were
young and foolish or when you were angry, and decide not to work with you
because of it? It doesn’t go away, even if you delete it from your profile,
status, blog, etc…there are spiders, cookies, caches, whatever you want to call
it that saves EVERYTHING you put out there for others to read and see. Those
pictures, nasty words, not too nice comments will be there for someone someday
to find.
You will wear it for life. This doesn’t
just affect you now; this is something that could haunt you for the rest of
your life and may very well come back at you when you least expect it. So try
to remember this the next time you want to say something about your boss,
friend, ex or neighbor…you never know who is reading this or when. I know I
have gone back over all my postings on all my sites to see what first
impression I have left.
Until next time, I hope you find that the
foot print you leave is one you wouldn’t mind leaving again.
