Facebook Profile Management: Balancing Personal and Professional Lives

The worlds of our personal and professional lives are set on a collision course more strongly now than ever before, with the update to the Facebook profile management last night. Upfront and center when you go to someone’s page is a short bio announcing to the world where you work, where you studied, where you live, who you’re in a relationship with, and when you were born. Even if you haven’t yet upgraded your profile to the new version, those individuals can see your new profile. As you know, this matters simply because to have a business fan page, we have to have a personal page (if you aren’t, then it’s time to review the Facebook rules and regulations, which say you cannot have more than one personal profile on Facebook). Once we’ve got that individual page, friend requests start pouring in, and we must either ignore them or accept them, and most of us take them. So, we are inevitably managing both Fan and personal pages on Facebook. So, this is a great moment to consider how your personal and professional lives intertwine on Facebook and to adjust your settings accordingly.

• First, don’t display your birth year unless your privacy settings are set to “Friends Only” for everything. While many of us don’t mind our friends knowing exactly how old we are, we also try to manage our professional profiles. Often, we’re either too young or too old to be “credible” in the professional world. Displaying your birth year allows people to confirm what they suspect, such as whether you are too young or too old to have the job you have. To change this, go to your profile’s “Basic” tab.
• Second, if your profile lists a company, take the time to go back in and ensure that it references the company’s actual Facebook Page, especially if it’s yours. You can tell if it is by going to the “Education and Work.” If it’s linked to an actual page, you’ll see the thumbnail for the company page. If it’s not, you’ll see a blue shadow thumbnail. If you see this, delete your professional profile and add it again, this time searching for your business’s Facebook page.
• Third, look at the pictures displayed—are you OK with the ones being featured? If not, hover over the images and click the “X” in the top right corner. That will remove them from display there but allow them to continue to be displayed in the photos section of your Facebook profile.
• Fourth, look at the information proudly displayed in your profile with a critical eye. Does it represent you in a professionally acceptable way while still being personally revealing? If not, it’s time to tidy up the information displayed there. Go to “Edit Profile” and take the time to review each tab, ensuring you’re comfortable with all the information displayed there.
• Finally, it’s probably time to refresh your Privacy Settings. I keep mine set at “Friends Only.” I’m pretty picky about who my friends on Facebook are, but not all my friends are as picky and accept friendship requests from almost anyone who asks. With a “Friends Only” setting, I know whatever I share on Facebook stays with my friends. If I want to share something publicly, I have a Twitter account, and everyone is welcome to follow me there.

Nothing about last night’s changes to Facebook profile management makes changing your profile any more critical than yesterday. However, since that information is now a focus every time someone goes to your page, it’s time to do the housekeeping we should have done to keep ourselves safe, to better manage our personal and professional profiles, and to make sure we’re comfortable with the intersection of those two worlds.