Unless you’ve been on the space shuttle in the last year Twitter is one of the hottest social media trends of 2009. When the media and celebrities start talking about how to use Twitter and other social media it is apparent that it has hit the mainstream. Twitter has been the topic of discussion on several day time television shows such as Opra and the Ellen Degeneres Show.
Have you ever been to a party and said or done something you regretted the next day? Well, this is happening every day on Twitter. In 2009 it was reported in the news that an employee called in sick for the weekend and then posted some pictures of himself at a party on Facebook. His employer saw the pictures and he was fired.
Sophos, a security software company, found that 63 percent of companies were afraid of what their employees were choosing to share on social networking sites. This lead to many IT departments filtering the URLs and blocking employee’s access to many of the social networking sites.
As of August the NFL does not have a policy on how to use twitter or any of the other social media networks for the players and coaches. But for fear of leaking strategic information such as injuries, plays and assignments the NFL is in is in the process of developing one. According to the NFL, cellphones, computers and P.D.A.’s cannot be used by players, coaches or other club personnel on the sideline, in coaches’ booths or locker rooms from pregame warm-ups through the end of the game.
Here are my suggestions on how to use twitter and not embarrass yourself or get yourself fired from your job.
- Don’t use Twitter to broadcast your social plans for the evening. At least don’t give out too many details.
- Use good judgment when Tweeting jokes and quotes
- When at work don’t tweet about how bad your boss is, how ugly your co-workers are, or if you’ve been drinking, taking drugs or hungover
- Health care workers must be careful not to disclose any patient information that would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Be careful about posting pictures of your children. It’s unfortunate that we have to watch out for sick predators that use the Internet to stalk their prey.
- Don’t post personal information such as home address, phone number or the type of care you drive. There are people out there that will use this information for identity theft or burglary.
- Don’t share your social network site’s passwords with your boyfriend or girlfriend. You never know if the relationship is going to go south and your personal pictures are going to end up sent out for everyone to see and read.
- This is one that people don’t think too much about but be careful how much financial information you share. It’s easy to get sucked into conversations about investments, realestate or banking. Remember all this information is out there for anyone to see.
If you would like to learn more about how to use Twitter then consider taking my 5 day mini course on How To Use Twitter And Grow Your Business. Fill in your name and email address below and lets get started.
Do you have other examples? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.
All the best,
