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Watching People Watch Social Media

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Social Implications

My degree is in psychology and so studying people and what they do is a lifelong habit.  Watching the interaction of individuals on social media is fascinating.  I am not the only one fascinated by it, of course.  The people at Social Implications spend all their time exploring the impact of social media.

They explore it from a bit different perspective than I.  Social media can really help a business or really hurt it.  Now that it is common for human resource departments to Google a person and check out their blogs, it can hurt or help you, too.

For example, consider a business I followed that had a sex related tweet over one weekend.  I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed they had been hacked.  However, I started really watching the content of that company’s tweets.  Had the sex related tweets continued, I would have not only unfollowed that business, I would not have spent money with them, either.  While one person would not mean much, angering a lot of followers could doom a business.

social implications

Individuals are not off the hook.  Remember Mark Phelps and the photo of the bong that pretty much cost him all his endorsements.  That was posted on a social media site, picked up by the media, and caused a storm of controversy.  All his medals were forgotten in an instant.

How do you know what is and what is not safe?

That is the mission of Social Implications:  to keep social media safe, fun, and effective.  They help you use social media to effectively market your brand by discussing  best practices, pitfalls, how to rescue yourself from mistakes, and what policies to make sure your company has and follows.

Everyone has a brand.  For individuals, it is your reputation.  For companies, it is reputation plus products.  Do not lose out on a job or sale because of a stupid mistake.  Follow the Social Implications blog and enhance your reputation, not destroy it.

This sponsor post is part of the Famous Boggers /Comment Luv contest.  Please visit my entries, Quest for Comments and Are You Commenting Wrong? and leave comments so I get more points.

About

Ever been pooped on by a rattlesnake? I have. I use experiences such as that and the solid research skills I gained getting my Ph.D. in clinical psychology to turn out informative, helpful nonfiction articles on such diverse topics as dogs, gardening, woodworking, and bugs. That way you can stay at a safe distance from the snakes in life and avoid all the other pitfalls there, too. What article may I write for you?

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{ 25 Responses }

  1. Rose says:
    Social media can help screen products and services, if you are really good, you are here to stay. ;-) It's also a good tool for mother to track her child activities.
  2. Brian says:
    It's very interesting how marketing, public relations, and branding have all merged into one big ball because of social media. This is why many experts in the industry have set up multiple accounts. It is almost necessary at this point in order to keep some sort of barrier between your business and personal life.
  3. Sachin says:
    Great Post thanks for teaching me great tutorial. :) ;)
  4. Stephanie Suesan Smith says:
    Thanks for the comment. Social media is here to stay. The specific sites might change, but the concept is permanent.
  5. Laura Davis says:
    When people can get suspended, expelled, and even arrested for Facebook posts and pictures, you know Social Media is a dangerous thing. It is a way to express yourself, but its also a way to get yourself in a world of trouble. People have to be increasingly aware of the implications of their actions online.
    • Stephanie Smith says:
      True. Posting a picture of yourself committing a crime is considered proof. That is something kids and young adults, and even some older adults, do not seem to grasp.
    • Charles says:
      People have a strange concept of what freedom means. They think they can do what they want, when they want without any consequences to their actions. They think privacy means that no one will ever find out but in reality, unless you spend your entire life alone, with no one around you at all, then maybe you could get away with true privacy but since there is no such thing as 100% privacy, people end up doing the wrong things at the wrong times and the end result is the "Mark Phelps" scandal. This is probably why I am not so active on my facebook and twitter accounts except when it comes to my blog. I just don't feel like letting the whole world know what I am doing every minute of every day. Kinda reminds me of how people use to put that they were on vacation in their answering machines and even state how long they would be gone. This was basically a call to anyone to break in and rob them. Perhaps social media could be the "end of the world" kinda shake up this society needs so that they can be more discreet and less stupid in the future.
      • Stephanie Smith says:
        Well, people have had their houses broken into because they had location enabled on their phones and used twitter at the coffee shop. Once must be careful with such things.
        • Charles says:
          Really? I didn't know about that. Goes to show what I miss because I don't have a smart phone to twitter or facebook on. That's crazy.
  6. DazzlinDonna says:
    I almost have to feel sorry, Stephanie, for the old school mega-corporations who are just flummoxed by all the social sharing / rep management issues these days. They are just so used to being in control of the message, that they are having a hard time dealing with complete loss of that control. That control is is now everywhere. I was into Personal Branding before it was much of a buzz word, and there weren't as many tools out there to help monitor mentions and conversations surrounding brands (personal or corporate) back then. These days, thankfully, we have services like Social Implications to help us deal with it all. Of course, it's best to make sure you don't get caught with a picture of your face glued to a bong, LOL, but if you do, it's good to know there are services to help you monitor and deal with the fallout. :)
    • Stephanie Smith says:
      Well, we all do stupid things occasionally, so all we can do is hope that there isn't someone with a camera there to record it and post it on the internet. Thanks for stopping by.
  7. Chandan says:
    Social media marketing strategy is one of the advance marketing strategy. I see that people are even going interested for SEO of facebook fan pages.
    • Stephanie Smith says:
      That is true. Now that you can make your Facebook fan page look like a web page, SEO becomes more important.
  8. Robert says:
    It's true, social media can have a large effect on a companys brand and image these days. Another thing you have to be really careful with now is the kind of adverts that get displayed on your site from the various ad networks. While many of them claim to be family friendly, i'd question some of them......
    • Stephanie Smith says:
      That is true. I have seen a blog logo advertised where there was an awful lot of skin showing and I did not consider it to be family friendly. By the same token, some do not consider hunting and fishing family friendly.
  9. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Stephanie, Thanks for sharing this site with us, much appreciated :) Branding is important. I feel that you shouldn't be obsessed with self-image as this may reign in your personality. In the same respect, making multiple mistakes in judgement can hurt you now and in the long term. As a practice sometimes I read my social media sites from a 3rd person perspective, observing the image which I am creating. This is a good practice for any online entrepreneur. Your brand may be different from how your audience has branded you, if this brand isn't strong enough. Ryan Biddulph
  10. Stephanie Smith says:
    It is the same psychology as the desire to blog -- look at me and what I know. But that desire can cause a problem if used recklessly.
  11. Justin Germino says:
    You are absolutely right, not only in regards to reputations being damaged but legal and privacy concerns. Employees leak company information on social media sites all the time, which can end up costing a company a lot more than just money. Employeers now screen social media networks for prospective employees to see if they will be good at representing integrity if hired for a company. Privacy is becoming harder to find and people need to remember when using social media that the "world" is watching and ask themselves for every tweet, message or picture they upload? Would I be okay if my employer saw this? Would I want my kids to see this?
    • Stephanie Smith says:
      Or would I be okay if my Mom friends me on Facebook and this is up there? Yep, can be a scary world with lots of opportunities to stumble.
  12. Nick says:
    I absolutely love people watching because we are fascinating creatures. This is partly why I think social media is here to stay and bloggers would be wise to understand the psychology behind it. A great read Stephanie!
    • Stephanie Suesan Smith says:
      Thanks for stopping by. People watching can be addictive.