Professional Twitter vs. Personal Twitter

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.