Thing 8 Managing Social Networking

I just read an article in the StarTribune titled Mind Your Digital Manners.  It was a question and answer article - and one of the questions was about boundaries.  Here is an exerpt:

There are a lot of social networks, but that doesn’t mean you have to be friends with everyone everywhere. Facebook for friends, LinkedIn for professional acquaintances, Twitter for public discussion. If you were a financial planner, would you want your clients to know how you spend your money on the weekends? I certainly wouldn’t. The best approach is to not become Facebook friends with a professional acquaintance unless the relationship morphs into a genuine friendship.

And I think that's true for me.  I have a Facebook page, and it is just for "friends".  Of course many of my work colleagues ARE my friends, but for me, Facebook is family and old/good friends.

I also have a Linkedin account.  It is definitely for professional acquaintances.  I have posted only a brief resume, and I don't actually check it very often - maybe if I was looking for a new job, or doing the hiring for my "company" I would access it more often.

Twitter - I set up an account, but never really got into using it.  Personally, I just don't really care if the world knows what it is that I am doing at any given time - and I don't feel like I need to know about anything/everything from any particular person all the time either. Professionally, however, I can see where following a group of children's or YA librarians who tweet about their story times, link to professional journal articles, or comment about their library activities would be interesting and helpful, just as I am a part of a listserv for library related conversation.

I have a google+ account but it really hasn't taken off like Facebook, so there isn't much activity.  Professionally, it too might be a good place to follow and participate in a group with common interests.