The half-life of nuclear waste is rivaled by only that of personal social media flotsam and jetsam. Youthful indiscretions, thanks to the proliferation of push-button technologies, are now written in ink. Political rants are more identifiable than you might think, and personal blogs or microblogs (Twitter) are — in reality — public record. Being strategic, both about what you click to publish and how you manage what is in the ether, is a critical, and often overlooked, personal branding and overall firm communications activity.
Social media has no precedent. If you went to a wild party in law school and managed some, say, alcohol-fueled heroics, it was possible that you (or someone you knew) took a picture, developed it (possibly in a dark room) and stored it, harmlessly, on a bulletin board, in a shoebox or pasted in an album. The possibility that a few years down the line the photo would be seen by your supervising partner, HR department or someone in your developing business community was remote. Possible? Yes. Probable, or even relatively easy? No. Digital cameras (on nearly every device), plus sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, have created tremendously easy ways to earn bad PR.
Paradigm Shift for Firms
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