Mom's Watching! Don't Ever Forget!

We need to remember not only are potential employers now searching the web but also our clients are on social media.  What you say can come back and kill your business.

Gene - It's not the "Mom network" we need to worry about watching our every move.  To some degree, it may even be dangerous to be registered to a particular political party, which can come back to bite us.  Nevermind saying anything about our political ideology.  I know, I speak from personal experience when I say this.

Gene, it takes the mothers' motto of "I have eyes in the back of my head" to another level.

One of my daughters told me she ruled out a well-qualified job applicant once because on FB he described his illegal substance abuse partying. Her take was that if he was stupid enough to post it publicly, how could you trust him around the workplace. Kate

Gene - While I can't speak for everyone, in my particular situations, I was simply exercising my right and in another helping out my community.

I live in Simi Valley, CA which is more commonly known as "Reagansville" because it's home to the Ronald Reagan Library.  As such, Simi Valley is pretty much a bastion of ultra-conservative, right wing Republicans, which can be a little unsettling for a die-hard Democrat like myself. 

For many years, I was a closet Democrat because I didn't want my neighbors and clients to know my true political affiliation for fear of prejudice, which I later learned was a very real concern.  Last year, I volunteered to work in one of the local Democratic polling places.  At some point during the night, the local press came in and took some pictures and asked us a few questions about the turnout.

The next day my picture showed up in the paper with a quote from me about my personal feelings for my choice of candidate.  I was a little shocked by the reaction of some of my neighbors as well as other people in the community who knew me and the prejudice I felt from them.

There have been other times where I felt this same prejudice in my capacity as a Family Support Chairperson for the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.  This is an organization that I have been an active part of for many years. 

However, when my picture has shown up in the papers for various ground breaking events or other celebrations, I am always a little shocked by the reaction of some people who feel that being a part of helping those less fortunate than ourselves is somehow an act of promoting a particular political agenda.  SERIOUSLY???

Gene - Our oldest daughter has made comments like you mention on social networking sites. Her dad, too! When the "devil may care" attitude keeps you from getting where you want to go, it's too late.

Donne - You go girl, and the heck with what us Republicans think (now I've gone and said it! We're 50/50 in my neck of the woods - in my house, too!). Since my impression of you is you would accept the "other side's" position, too, it's too bad you are getting the "really!?!?" feedback.

Karen, you're so sweet.  As a Conejo Valley homegirl, you know what I'm talking about.  Although the elections in the past two years have certainly reduced the amount of red fans countywide (I think Ventura county is pretty evenly split now between red and blue), here in Simi Valley, we're still pretty red.  You're right too in that I do respect other people's right to vote whatever way they want.  Who someone chooses to vote for is none of my business.

However, for those folks who think that helping those less fortunate than ourselves is actually a form of promoting some particular politcal agenda, those are the folks I want nothing to do with - ever.  I have actually had people say to me that my participation in Habitat functions is nothing more than left-wing, bleeding heart liberal propaganda of promoting hand-outs for those who don't deserve it.  For these people with this kind of attitude, their opinion is "if those people can't afford to buy a house on their own, then they don't deserve to have one".

Thanks, I do try and be careful of what I say in a post. We are all professionals and must be careful of damaging our reputations.

Just had this conversation last night at dinner with some agents after a high-rise, new construction tour! (Didn't know we had those here, did you? ;-) )Some of my colleagues have decided that they will never use FB for anyone but their really close friends because they can't trust those friends not to post pics of them all in "unprofessional" situations. At the very least, I would think we as "adults" could refrain from compromising our friends who may use social media for business. Post those pics on Flickr and make them private! It isn't only kids who have a lesson to learn! One friend said her kids are her 'friends' on FB and she was shocked to see, not the ubiquitous red cup but the cigarette in her childs mouth! I beleive it resulted in a "discussion!"

I think if someone is misbehaving on Facebook they are probably doing the same in a bricks and mortar environment.  However the audience online is obviously much larger. I am guessing these people forget the scope of the internet.

Excellent post Gene.  Well said.  Can't agree more (as you already know).

Question: where'd ya git the picture of Mom?!?  ;~}

Dominick