No matter which social media platforms you use, be aware of your digital footprint. Social media mistakes are making the news more frequently.
Only a week ago, the corporate communications chief from IAC (the parent company of match.com and Vimeo) was fired because of an offensive tweet. Yes, a communications professional unfortunately did not follow the social-media best practices. The consequences were severe 鈥� she lost her job.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube 鈥� everywhere you go, you leave a digital footprint that you cannot erase. Even if you are careful, your friends can leave one for you by tagging and including you online. We offer some basic tips for minding your digital footprint.
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Tips for 2014:
Understand what NSFW (not safe for work) means for you as an employee; if you are on Twitter, try to avoid placing not-safe-for-work tweets on your employer鈥檚 hashtag or tweets that can reflect poorly on you and your employer.
Google yourself (we all do it) and look at the hits and images that come up for you. Any surprises? Do you need to ask some of your contacts to not tag you on status updates or to use higher privacy settings? Remember that it is common for employers to creep online (check out your digital footprint) and do some research about you. You have probably heard about employees getting fired for things they said online.
Keep it clean. If you are having problems with your boss, coach, teacher, teaching assistant, principal or department, do not hash this out via social media. Instead, speak to someone who can help you with this issue. Things can quickly get out of control online, and your one comment or complaint can get taken out of context and go viral (shared with thousands of others instantaneously) and then there is no looking back or apologizing. It is too late.
Don鈥檛 lose your cool. Danger and anger are only one letter apart, and digital technology adds the capital D: never send an email when you are upset or tired, never copy the world and blind copy with extreme caution. Remember that when you send an email, you have no control over the message if the recipient forwards it to others. Never say something that you might have to apologize for later.
Wait, calm down, then hit send. When you do calmly send an email, use the subject heading, address the recipient, use complete sentences, and end your email with your name. This makes it easier for the recipient to respond and it is always best to send a polite, formal email to people related to work or your education. (You might find it easier to do all of this by sitting at a keyboard instead of using a mobile device in the middle of the night.)
Respect that the recipient might need 24 to 36听hours to respond to your email, so avoid sending one at 1 a.m. and then another five hours later. Also try to remember that your employers, teachers or supervisors might not check their emails on the weekends. You should become familiar with and respect their email communication policy.
Enjoy the tools that most of us have at our fingertips, but practise safe computing. Don鈥檛 be a tool to yourself, your employer or your friends. Have a great year.
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Janni Aragon is assistant teaching professor in the department of political science and chairwoman of the senate committee on learning and teaching at the University of Victoria. Nav Bassi is director of academic and administrative services, and chief technology officer for the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at UVic.
