I recently read the The Mindset Divide study from LinkedIN and called asking myself that question.  According to the study these are the top 5 drivers for personal and professional networks:

“The biggest difference between personal and professional networking is purpose and mindset,” says the report. “We learned that people exhibit two very different mindsets when they engage on social platforms – a personal one to passively ‘spend time’, and a professional one to actively ‘invest time’.” LinkedIn learned that people using social networks pass time in a casual mindset, while those who view their activity as professional networking have a purposeful mindset.

But in this day can you really keep your personal and professional social accounts separate?  I think this is one of the hardest things people struggle with.  Personally my personal and professional networks are blurred.  When people ask me how, my answer is “it’s really not that hard, just be yourself”.  Then comes the question everyone asks “But, how do I know what I can and cannot say?”.

Let’s take it from a professional perspective first.  Does your company have social media polcies and procedures in place?  Do they provide training?  If so I would refer to that.  If not, then there are several questions you can ask yourself before sharing information:

• Is the information I am sharing confidential
• Does this make the company look bad
• Can I back up what i am saying
• Is the information helpful
• Remember it is a conversation, you can’t just put something out there and engage with people who respond

These are just a few, but the most important thing…….Use Common Sense!

Now from the personal, it’s easy.  Don’t be afraid to be yourself and don’t say anything in social media your would say to friends in real life (yes people still have face to face conversations).  Again…Use Common Sense

I think the main goal for everyone in social media whether personal or professional is to share information and engage with people.  I mean if there’s no conversation, what makes what your sharing any more compelling than a boring press release? 🙂

Leave a comment, I’d love to hear what you have to say.  Thanks for reading!