Being Social on Social Media

So your on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Google+, 500px, and your Linkedin?
You have 5000 friends on each? How many know you for you? How many know you for your photography? Facebook Pages? How many Forums do you frequent?
Chances are, like myself, you have more social media outlets than you know what to do with. You have friends on your friends list that you have no clue who they are, what ideals you may share, or if you would even be friends with them outside of Facebook.

Those who know me well know I am a nice guy and will go out of my way to help people if I can. On the flip side, I am also very forward, very opinionated, and I love a good debate. Now I post a lot of things to my personal FB account. Pictures, Memes, products, and others thoughts that tend to coincide with my own.

Well guess what? Everyone sees that!!! That's right, if you choose to accept friends that you do not know, and specially those that do know you, they see everything you write most of the time. The other day I was talking to a life long friend of mine and she mentions some recent images that I had liked. Now they were not in my opinion, bad images, but it donned on me that to many, they may be offensive. Some of my comments might be offensive to potential customers, to colleagues, and even family. A few years ago, I might have said something like oh well, or like me or forget me. Here is the problem with that line of thought, it drives people away.

Social Media is a powerful tool, used properly it can help your work to be seen by thousand, hundreds of thousand even. Interaction with friends and those you hold close is also important and being able to express yourself freely is a must. If you visit some of the big names like Jarvis, Kelby, and Art Wolfe, you will notice something in general. You usually do not see opinion, memes, personal posts not related to photography. Do they forgo the social networks on a personal level or have they figured out a better system? Likely they use filters that block their personal lives from the rest of us. It is probably a good idea for many of us to do the same thing or forgo the social aspect of social networking. I know that sounds rough but like I said above, it is reality and you never know when your personal feelings might drive away business.

Next week I tell you about our trip to the Florida Keys and how brushing off a law nearly turned our visit into a nightmare.