By: Sarah Jones
Recently, I came across an article that discussed some
Twitter faux pas. After reading the article, I do see how some of these
behaviors could be a turnoff to employers, but I don't think people have to get
rid of them altogether.
Beverley Reinemann, the writer of the article, said you
should stop doing these seven things on Twitter: tweeting about
controversial issues, forgetting that everyone can see your tweets, not having
a focus (meaning you're tweeting about 100 different things instead of one
specific thing), engaging in negative conversations, tweeting too much,
focusing only on yourself, and overusing hashtags.
I agree with Reinemann on some Twitter etiquette like not
having negative conversations, especially on the Internet. It leads to cyber
bullying, which is a big problem in the world today. Also, I agree with
watching what you say because even if your profile is private, all of your
followers can see what you tweet, and it could come back to bite you later if
you tweet something unfavorable. People have the ability to screenshot so even
if you delete it, someone might be holding on to the evidence. Like when companies use tweets to promote themselves
during times when they shouldn't. For example, Kenneth Cole tweeted this during
the revolutions in Cairo:
Picture from Business Insider article
Aside from the things that I agree with, I think it's healthy
to tweet about controversial issues, as long as it's in a respectful manner and
you aren't bashing the other side with hateful comments. You can have all seven
of those Twitter faux pas in your personal Twitter; you just need to be aware
of your audience. I think it's okay to not have a focus, tweet however much you
want, and overuse hashtags if it is on your personal account. However, I feel
like the guidelines in this article are for professional accounts only. You
probably shouldn't do any of these Twitter behaviors if your intention is to
appear professional. Your focus should be on what you want your career to be
and plan to tweet about only that topic.
As I head into my senior year, I want to make sure I look
professional to future employers and because of this I made a second, and more
professional, Twitter over the summer. My personal Twitter is private, not
because I have anything to hide, but because I want to share what's happening
in my life, good and bad, with my family and share my professional thoughts and
ideas with fellow PR professionals through my separate professional account. I
feel like if I were to mesh the two together my focus for PR would be jumbled
together with my love for live tweeting The Tonight Show. No future employer
wants to sift through all of my incoherent babbling about what happened to me
that day to find my thoughts on what's happening in the PR world. Which is why
I choose to keep the two separate.
