How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?
Recently, I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing happen. When you work in the social media realm, people expect certain things. They expect you to share. And yet, although some of my best friends knew about the terrible event, I did not share it widely.
Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship
Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship
Being “friends” on Facebook does not mean that someone is truly friends, despite the saying that a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met. If you are squinting at someone’s image, wondering where you met them (or if you met them at all), maybe it’s time to cut them loose if Facebook is your “safe place.”
Being a Private Person
Are you a private person? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about being an introvert because that’s different. But are you private in your communications online? Would you be ready to share something and then have a relative stranger come up and say “oh, hey, I heard that you fell off the roof while on vacation!” If not, then you might consider not sharing that tidbit, although it’s easy to forget that 100s or 1000s of people could potentially see what you post.
How to Decide What to Share
Here are a few questions you could ask yourself before you share something:
- Will this hurt me later?
- Will this expose a friend?
- Will sharing this get back to the person I’m sharing about?
- Could this have any negative impacts?
And here are 9 things you should never share on Facebook, from Post Planner.
Where to Share
Certain people have places that are more private than others on social media. For instance, I consider Twitter to be the most filled with strangers of all of my platforms. Yours could be Facebook. Or LinkedIn. At any rate, there’s a hierarchy of places for all of us. I might share something in a closed Facebook group before I share it on Twitter.
Some would say that you could share more safely on Twitter, since it doesn’t ask you to share your own or your friends’ information as much. See Facebook vs Twittter: Privacy Issues.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Social Sharing
There are many good aspects of sharing. For instance, you could share a picture that you want all your friends to see. It beats emailing it to everyone! And you can create an album on Facebook or a secret board on Pinterest for those images. By the way, here are Ten Ways to Be Social, from the archive.
The Bad and the Ugly
There are also many, many ways to fail on social media. For instance:
- Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: LinkedIn
- Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Pinterest
- Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: Facebook
Photo by Dvortygirl 
What’s Something You’d Never Share?
I promise not to tell! Leave me a comment. Thank you.
Hi Carol
I generally keep a clear demarcation between my professional and personal life. I rarely see any benefit in sharing my personal stuff with clients. They’re mainly interested in how I can help their business, not so much in hearing that I can play bossa nova on the guitar.
What’s something I’d never share? Lots of things! I like to cultivate an air of mystery.
Clement
Me, too, Clement Lim. Sometimes I do share with clients, but try to keep it on the lighter side. If they did mention something that we have in common, for instance, that could be a good time to confess a shared hobby. But I’m with you–they want to know how I can get them results!
Thanks for dropping by,
Carol
Twitter is my most public and Facebook is my most private. Heck, Medium is my most private.
I’m generally very open on social media and in life, because that’s my choice and it is more helpful than not. But everyone should remember to exercise grace and constraint. It’s one thing if you want to talk about your own feelings, it’s potentially hurtful to start defaming someone else.
Hi Bridget,
I just recently found out that Medium is your most private platform! That’s so interesting!
Yes, we sometimes forget when we mention others that they might not want their private lives shared! Good reminder.
Thanks for your comments and your support, as always!
Carol