"Check-ins," "tweets," "likes." Less than 10 years ago, these terms would be foreign to a majority of the U.S. population.
Facebook has more than 552 million daily users in the U.S., and 40 percent of all social media users say they interact more over social media than face-to-face, according to mediabistro.com, an online Twitter resource.
As today’s workforce recovers from a struggling economy, college graduates starting a career strive to adapt to a professional environment filled with networking and social media and learn to maintain a balance between work life and personal life.
According to mediabistro.com, more than half of all social media users are between the ages 25 to 44, and 26 percent are 25 to 34 years old. This same age group also makes up the majority of the U.S. workforce, according to the 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The online population has an addiction to updating their selected group of “friends” or “followers” about where they are, whom they are with and what they are doing. Social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare, allow a quick type and click to inform hundreds of people about anything in a matter of seconds.
Social Media in the Workforce
The Internet has no boundaries; social media continues to expand rapidly. In the last five years, social media has exploded into a phenomenon that incorporates updates and sharing into daily social and work life. According to socialmediainbusiness.com, social media is a long-term plan that revolutionizes business, and no company that hopes to gain a competitive edge in its industry can avoid it.
ASU alumna Lauren Miller graduated in 2012 and began working at Digital Air Strike, a social media company that manages online media accounts for car dealerships around the country. Miller said the company’s goal is to maintain its online presence by posting content and interacting with customers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Miller said she spends her whole workday on designated social media sites for her assigned dealerships. Because the company has relaxed social media guidelines, she said, personal social media use is observed based on the amount of content they produce for the client. Employees periodically check and update their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts throughout the day, mainly during breaks and lunch hour, Miller said.
“Being on the Internet, it’s impossible to not see stuff that might take you away from your job for a little bit,” she said.
Most workers in the Digital Air Strike office are 22 to 28 years old.
Miller said potential employees are hired based on their experience and knowledge of social media, because some of the older business demographic may not be aware of or have an appropriate background in personal or professional social media use. While this would not keep the company from hiring an older employee, Miller said, Digital Air Strike can train any employee willing to acquire social media knowledge.
Balancing Personal and Professional Boundaries
Any picture, post or Tweet remains on the Internet forever, whether deleted or not.
As of 2012, 37 percent of employers said they screen a job candidate’s social media profiles, and about 11 percent plan to do so in the future, according to a survey held by online job website CareerBuilder.com.
Seventy-five percent of college-level Facebook users check their Facebook pages at least once a day to maintain their social networks of classmates, friends, coworkers and competitors, according to Edudemic.com, an online technology resource. Sharing social media with these groups can offer networking perspective, show accomplishments and form personal connections; but it can also cross personal boundaries in a workplace.
New members in today’s competitive workforce make a conscious effort to maintain transparency between their personal and professional activities among their social media pages to keep a respectable professional reputation. College graduates entering the workforce struggle with decisions of whether to incorporate content on their profiles that appeal to their social circle as opposed to their professional circle of peers.
Kelly O’Brien, who graduated from the W. P. Carey School of Business in 2012, is finishing a master’s degree in accounting and teaches classes in the business school.
She said she linked many people in the professional field through social media, but deciding whether to be friends with a supervisor, boss or coworker is essential when trying to maintain a professional and personal transparency.
Forming connections and contacts is the best purpose for professional social media use and can benefit a professional reputation if used correctly, O’Brien said.
She said her advice to business students in her classes is, "Employers expect you to have a life and expect you to go out, but you need to be aware of the way you portray yourself. They want you to be on Facebook, and if you’re not, they question why you aren’t.”
She said crazy antics portrayed on social media can make an employee a liability for the company and make a company reconsider the type of worker interacting with their clients.
Young workers starting a career must also decide whether to mix business and leisure, and be friends with their supervisors or coworkers. O’Brien said connecting to superiors and coworkers personally is acceptable, so long as content is censored.
Rachel Allen, a Digital Air Strike employee, said she is friends with many coworkers on Facebook.
“I feel like the lines are blurred,” she said, “but I think it is increasingly more difficult for them not to be.”
Both Allen and Miller maintain professional Facebook profiles in addition to their personal accounts. They use their professional accounts for communication at work and keep their personal profiles private so only selected friends can see what they post.
Allen and Miller are selective about who they are friends with on their personal and professional profiles. They also make their information, page and pictures private so that only their select group of online friends can view their content.
“I wouldn’t consider (the content on my personal profile) to be a reflection of my professional career, however, more of a representation of how I like to spend my free time,” Miller said. “The things I share on my work Facebook are relevant to my job, but I also will post interesting things that I come across on the Internet. I think it boils down to common sense. Don’t post something you wouldn’t want your boss or client to see.”
Allen said she has toned down crazy statuses and kept personal posts “PG,” and also said social media can be reflective of how people perceive her in a professional setting.
What Does the Future Hold?
Despite the millions of college-age users who access their online profiles and accounts every hour or day, some miss out on self-networking, recruiting or job opportunities. Three percent of college students do not use social media websites.
O’Brien said younger professionals who are proficient in social media and have the ability to connect are considered an asset in a professional career, and not having social media can put prospective employees at a disadvantage.
Health science junior Chali Clarke deactivated her Facebook after three years of using it too much as a “pointless distraction.”
She said because she used Facebook for pictures, she chose to use only Instagram instead.
Clarke said she doesn't plan to ever use Facebook again and forgets that people have it.
Balancing personal and professional boundaries was also complicated for Clarke.
“I deleted my Facebook, because once I get into a professional career that I want, it’s a disadvantage if you have crazy pictures up. … You don’t want to mix too much of your personal life with your business life,” Clarke said.
Reach the reporter at mrmill10@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @mrmill10
