The Case for Converging Your Personal/Professional Networks

Image via Snorgtees

Do you "cross the streams?" In other words, do you co-mingle your personal and professional social networks? This is a tough question to answer. In this essay (which is also my Adage column next week), I present the pro-side of the argument. I also opened up this discussion on Facebook.

As I travel the world, however, I am hearing distinct argument for keeping these separate. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and I discussed this yesterday. He (correctly) called me "an edge case." So with this in mind, consider this Part I. In Part II I will look at the case against "crossing the streams."

As always, I am eager for your views. Help me learn. This is a very confusing topic for many people.

Professional, Personal Social Circles Converge...and Confuse

About a year ago I became Facebook friends with Rob, the dealer sold me my car in 2007. Now I don't have any connection Rob other than this single transaction. Yet whenever I bring in my wheels for service, he is able to recall some nugget from my activity stream. You see, Rob is smart. He is using social networking to maintain a level of "ambient awareness" about his customers' total lives and he lets us do the same about him. This instills trust. And trust is the future of business. In all likelihood this helps him drive more sales.

Social networking is rapidly blurring the edges between our professional and personal spheres. Many of us co-mingle colleagues, clients, friends and family within our social networks. Others do not.

While the long term effects are uncertain, this convergence is creating mass confusion among marketers and other corporate types who for years have worked to ensure these circles remain separate. They maybe fighting a losing battle since this train left the station long ago.

The days of us yelling "yabba dabba doo," sliding down the dinosaur's tail and leaving work behind at five are long over. Thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices, we are constantly connected to our work. On the flip side, we don't hesitate to stay close to our personal networks while we're in the office.

Social networking is amplifying and accelerating this existing trend. It's forcing all of us to make choices about how public we are willing to be - and what, if any boundaries we want to maintain between our networks. Regardless of your individual stance, this subtle, yet important change is going to reshape how you and your colleagues do business.

The societal norm, it seems, is tilting more toward what thinker Jeff Jarvis calls "new publicness." This is especially true among younger workers. And while there are certainly major pitfalls - ask anyone who lost their job over questionable Facebook photos from a weekend party - there are clear benefits as well. Caveats aside, I believe that that those who allow these circles to overlap will build stronger ties all around. At our heart, we're all human beings, not automatons. If we open up and let our customers, colleagues and partners see even just a little bit of our total activity streams, we will break down barriers, instill trust and more lasting business relationships.

This isn't black and white of course. Each individual will have to decide just how public he/she wishes to be and to what end. This is why Twitter, a public channel, may not be right for everyone. Yet Facebook, which allows the user to tailor his/her specific updates just to a single network, could be.

The good news, however, is that publicness is not an all or nothing equation. You can start small, as many are. Some employees, for example, are solely using internal social networking tools like Yammer to update their colleagues on their day-to-day activities. Other more extroverted types, meanwhile are tweeting their passions. Some even log their total lives on FourSquare, all in full view of their professional and personal networks.

Ultimately this is an individual choice and it must take into account a lot of factors, including corporate policies and industry norms. But in an age where transparency begets trust, there's a lot to be gained on an individual and institutional level for those who decide in some way to live some of their lives in public and converge networks. Just ask Rob, who I will definitely buy from again.

Comments

[Cindy]

I'm not a fan of the idea of merging my 2 worlds, personal & professional. My personal world includes family (4 generations), church associates, friends of many types -- most of whom, I'm sorry to say, have no interest in the topics of my work life. I don't want to bore them or waste their time with the conversations I find of interest for my work. Entirely different worlds, in my opinion -- and in my particular case. Others may have more cross-over between their worlds.

[Jenny Levine]

I love the idea of this post, but I'm not sure it really captures the full argument for crossing streams (which I really think of more as crossing networks). Because I mix professional and personal on Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, etc., I've been told that I'm much more "accessible" than MPOW's regular customer service channels. That's allowed me to solve member problems faster and change peoples' attitudes about us (ROA - "Return on Attitude"). Yes, trust is a big part of that because they see the personal/human side of me, but it's also a matter of commitment level of participation on my part because I'm personally invested in those spaces.In addition, crossing networks lets me naturally fill an advocacy role beyond my normal circle of work contacts, and I can act as a Malcolm-Gladwell-connector at a much broader level.In the end, though, I totally agree that it's a personal decision. I can't wait to see part II, because we're having this discussion internally at work, too.

[David Siteman Garland]

For me, it was never an option. My personal and professional just naturally combined. In the era of streams, people take what they need. I've noticed this is much more apparent in Gen Y entrepreneurs (I'm generalizing), but it seems we are less concerned as a whole with privacy and "traditional" breaks between work and personal. What do you think?

[Chuck]

You also have to keep in consideration for this issue all the people who own and operate their own businesses. I freely mingle personal and professional and it serves me well in both areas. I am my company and I'm not afraid to voice my opinions. I'd like to think I'm running a very successful small business and it is driven by new and social media.I can see how this is more problematic for those working for large corporations or organizations involved in political lobbying efforts. Bottom line I think is to realize this issue can and will be handled differently by people in different situations. It's too tempting to label everyone the same and say there's just one solution.

[Laura P Thomas]

I have been crossing the streams for at least three years now - since I first began using Twitter. I'm probably an edge case too, but I think I owe my comfort with this in part to my upbringing.I grew up in the type of small town where, as the joke goes, you didn't have to use a turn signal because everyone already knew where you were going. It was nearly impossible to do business with the mechanic, grocer or retail store owner without knowing something about their personal lives. So, today I'm not that uncomfortable knowing when the child of my sales rep at a company loses a tooth. And, if they don't want to see photos of my kid's first grade play, then they can unfollow or unfriend at will!I moved out of that small town as soon as I could, but perhaps in all of us who embrace social networks there is still a bit of longing for our own bar stool at the place where everyone knows your name.

[Jonathan Evans]

I am experimenting with mixing these two streams as well. I think each complement the other and provide some cross-over when personal becomes professional...business decisions often need that personal relationship in building trust.However, I personally object to Facebook's heavy-handed manner of forcing the marriage of the two streams. I want to do it on my own so I can control the pace and interaction.

[christopher hart]

Good topic. Thin take. Get emotional. I've gone to great lengths to contrive boundaries between professional and personal. Now I realize that it is incumbent on my health to dismantle all this artificial architecture.Typo in P6: "They may <space> be fighting a losing battle since this train left the station long ago." God bless you.

[berkson0]

I have kept my streams separate for the most part and the line has been pretty firm: friends and family on Facebook, business on LinkedIn/Twitter. However, your point about your "relationship" with your car dealer has made me think about where that line should be. As a business owner I am never truly *not* working but the flip side is I can be flexible to play during work hours. Perhaps I'm missing out on some opportunities to become more engaged with my customers, vendors and colleagues.Can't wait to see what you have to say in Part II...

[Will Marlow]

This is a great topic, very relevant. My own choice has been to converge all my feeds (not an uncommon decision for a blogger/entrepreneur who relies on a personal/professional network for input regularly). Convergence gets a bad name, however, and one prime cause is corporations/political campaigns that have sensitive info and haven't created clear policies to manage information and behavior on social media. As a former press secretary on capitol hill, I can say that internal social media policies are very important, because reporters, donors, volunteers, etc., are all looking at a campaign from the outside, and more and more they'll expect to be able to read between the lines of social media messages, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly. As we see more convergence, we'll need to see clear guidelines and SOPs.

[Andrew Halfacre]

Not sure? Someone told me once that true maturity is when you can be exactly the same wherever you are and whoever you are with - no masks, no faces, no contrived appearances to fit in with prevailing opinions of others. Couple this with the screaming hunger for authenticity that we see all around us and I think you have a pretty strong argument for just being you - wherever you are. In a world where we are routinely lied to by marketing people, where politicians adopt a position rather than being themselves, I think people ache to meet someone who is genuinely themselves with real thoughts, honest opinions about things and a point of view.Perhaps we are coming at this from the wrong angle though. It's not about whether you mingle your streams but how much you share in the first place - I never talk about my children online, never post pictures of them, do not make public funny stories about them that could haunt them from the Google cache in 10 years - so I'm very happy to mingle all this stuff because there are no consequences to doing so.Politicians and celebrities seem very slow to grasp that people can smell 'fake' a mile away - the days of being able to spin a line and have it hold are fast fading away. Perhaps it is no longer possible to maintain a separate professional facade when a casual Google search will reveal your 'other' life anyway?

[LorM]

The problem with this is it only benefits the completely mainstream middle-of-the-road person. If you have any interests that are not white bread mainstream you open yourself to the possibility of bias. So only those who are completely middle-of-the-road or completely secure (not many are in employment these days) can fully express themselves. Facebook is trying to not allow you privacy anymore.

[seekgeek]

Afterall... "at our heart, we're all human beings"Yes, but some of us are more human than others.

[James Crawford]

Is it just me or is Steve Rubel one of the few bloggers on PR and social media who doesn't talk crap? OK, maybe there are others, but this guy talks sense. If Steve comes to Manchester, I am going to buy him a pint.I occasionally 'mix my streams' as I have friends who work in marketing, therefore, my public and private life is blended.

[Martin]

There was always a human drive for business socializing - even in the old days of the offline world when he had our 'inofficial' lunches or after-work drinks in the bar. And there we started crossing the two streams. And as offline is just a catalyst for online... Question answered?

[Walter Adamson]

Christopher Hart gets my vote. If you don't mind having to think about every second post and classify it and word-smith it according to "personal" or "business" then that's obviously a productive way to spend your time. For me I'd rather spend it on the content or on doing something else. Anyone who googles me finds all my social spaces and places no matter how I segment them. My approach is to try to behave as if I am in someone's living room or out for dinner with friends or colleagues and not do something stupid but to represent myself as the whole person everywhere. That's not to say that I post on Linkedin everything I might post on Facebook - I kind of dress to the occasion.While "we" might worry about this isn't it obvious that everyone knows that we have a job and a life and they accept all sorts of things about us. In the social media they ignore the bits that aren't relevant to them at the time, scan past others, and read bits that they are interested in. I've been through some of the dismantling of the artificial silos of social media business versus social media personal and it is a huge pain in the butt. Luckily I sorted it out before it got out of hand.Walter Adamson @g2mhttp://xeesm.com/walter

[Kenley Neufeld]

I love the metaphor and I am definitely one that crosses the stream. It is done with intention. I am aware of my readers, my audience, and therefore censor some of what I write.As you mentioned, Twitter is a public forum by its nature where Facebook allows for a bit more privacy. I do utilize the grouping function in Facebook and periodically post things "privately" to certain groups. My most recent experiment was with using the Lifestream plugin on my blog (http://kenleyneufeld.com) but just turned it off yesterday. I think it was kind of weird to see it all in one place, particularly the FourSquare checkins. When presenting the site to a class the other day, one student said...you went to coffee three times in one day! Haha.Thanks for bringing this discussion out for exploration.

[Walter Adamson]

Kenley, I know what you mean that those lifestreams can get just a bit too much. But you made me wonder was the issue for you - that you were seen to go to coffee 3 times, or that you actually checked in 3 times, and why if you were OK to check in did you find it embarrassing for a student to see that? I also use groupings and such in FB, it doesn't mean that if you "cross your streams" that you spray all your stuff at everyone all the time.Walter

[Kenley Neufeld]

Walter: I had actually already decided to stop the Lifestream thing on the blog, so it was kind of a coincidence with the class. I think the issue was that it simply wasn't important. I try real hard with my audiences to keep posts relevant and interesting. Checking in for coffee isn't that particularly important (unless you want to sell me coffee). ;-)

[dalden]

Great topic. Great comments.I can't (and don't want to) separate me into "groups". I understand some of us have completely different work and non-work interests. Professionally, I am a designer, social marketer & web entrepreneur. I am also a avid mountain biker, adventure racer and fly fisherman among other things. My fly fishing buddies don't care about the fundamentals of social media, but they love when I tag a fishing picture of them and their "big fish" then post it online for ALL my friends (work and non-work) to see.@dalden

[Andy Wergedal]

I'm not sure if there can be a complete and separate line between personal and professional lives. Maybe we should consider a DMZ where some folks are in both worlds and can meander on both sides.@andywergedal

[Jay Cross]

Looking ahead five years, corporations as we've known them will have disappeared. We're all be fully transparent. The division between professional and personal will be meaningless. We'll be doing what we're good at. This issue will disappear as we get back on the path. jay

[Kristen Sukalac]

Privacy/anonymity is an urban concept. Like Laura P. Thomas I am from a small town (1500), and it is ridiculous there to think that you could work with anyone without also knowing them personally in some capacity. For me, like Cindy, it's not about MY privacy so much as it is about the audience: I don't post the same things to my different accounts because the audience for my LinkedIn profile (professional contacts) is not the same as Facebook (mostly family and friends scattered across the globe because of my mobile lifestyle) or Twitter (my personality channel). I adapt the content to the audience. I am considering adding professional contacts to Facebook now that I know how to segment posting but I need to better understand how that works when I syndicate updates from other channels to Facebook.

[seekgeek]

I like your viewpoint Kristen - very articulate.Steve, I can't wait to see how you are going to argue this the other way.

[Anne]

I found this to be the biggest thing I had to get over to get started in social media. I came to social media for business with my knowledge of the subject from my personal interactions with the medium which actually made me a bit uncomfortable. I had to realize that the business side of social media can be made separate from the personal and I don't have to tell people the details of my life. I stick to useful business info and it makes it much easier. I suspect as I get more knowledge of the medium the business and the personal will merge in some ways but I couldn't have started without drawing a very distinct line between the two.

[Matthew Gain]

Interesting discussion and position Steve.I agree with you, I see no reason to be splitting the personal and professional me. I am the same person at work as I am with friends.However, having said that I got a lot of negative feedback from people when I used to connect my Twitter account to my Facebook status. On Twitter I share a lot about the industry I work in, PR, and to the majority of my friends on Facebook this wasn't relevant. Even my friends in the same industry advised they didn't come to Facebook for that kind of content.Thus my position now is to welcome business relationships on Facebook, I have nothing to hide in my personal life after all, but on the whole the information I share on that platform is not professional and more personal.