blurring personal with professional spheres - lessons learned

Reading through Kane's (2017) paper, the section on employees' boundaries between employees and professional lives becoming blurred due to the implications of social media stood out to me the most. It made me reflect on my perceptions/views of social media and my employers in the last two jobs I've held.

My Job as a Teacher

Teaching was my first career right out of college. I used social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. When I began my job, I realized that boundaries between myself and supervisors, such as admin, were very important. However, I soon learned that the culture of the school I worked at functioned very differently than what I wanted. Teachers were pretty close and friendly with admin and typically hung out outside work, usually for drinks. I eventually began socializing with the group of folks and admin. It wasn't long before I began receiving friend requests on social media sites. Although I did not want to have people I work with as friends on social media, I felt terrible denying their requests...so I accepted them. It wasn't long before I realized that I regretted my decision. I only regretted it because this meant people knew what you were doing outside of work if you posted it. Not that I would post anything unprofessional, but my life as an employee and my life as a regular human being were purposely kept separate. There were times when people would talk about someone being out, on sick leave and discussing what they were probably up to because the person has posted on social media...talk about uncomfy! After leaving this job, keeping boundaries between work and personal life, including social media, was important.

My Job as a State Government Employee

This one was my second job, which was tough with social media. As social media, such as Facebook, became a place where people voiced their opinions and beliefs, I became a hermit crab. The state agency I was working for was becoming more and more controversial. I began debating whether or not to keep my social media. In regards to employees/employers and social media, I worked with a very tight-knit group. Surprisingly, we never added each other on social media and I am not sure why. We all discussed stuff we saw on social media but never invited each other to follow/request one another. I really liked this! Anyways, I eventually deleted all my social media sites or apps. I did add many of my co-workers to LinkedIn. I feel like that is a place more suited for a professional relationship!

Overall Thoughts

I personally don't like having supervisors/anyone in my leadership on social media. As for co-workers, I think it depends on the type of relationship you have with them. I like adding co-workers on LinkedIn. However, the fact of the matter is that even if your social media platforms are private, this information can still be shared by anyone that follows you. One of my previous supervisors once shared..."if you're okay with your social media post being on a billboard, then it's fine to share, but if you aren't okay with it being on a billboard, then don't share."

References

Kane. (2017). The evolutionary implications of social media for organizational knowledge management. Information and Organization, 27(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2017.01.001