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Jul 02
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I have many friends on my Facebook personal page, but I have one friend in particular who I will talk about. (Don’t worry, he’s not a NACE Hawaii member…but he is a Hawaii wedding/special event “professional.”)
On his Facebook page, he usually writes about his personal exploits, drinking, and sometimes work. A recent sampling of his updates:
| yes, 10 coors light beer just gave me a buzz, meannnnn, I’m officially will drink Coors from now on and relax on heiny’s, what u think……
to all my facebooker: I got streetfighter, transformers, angels & deamons, fast & furious, & hangover on DVD, if you want a copy holla at me, it’s a one time early christmas present to you all, just send me your address or whatever, I’ll ship it for free, just buy me beer if I see u in the club!!! K K Byeeee!!! Will Jump From Transformers To Hangover, Gonna Get My Moneys Worth, Never Thought Movies Cost This Much Especially The Snacks…WTF!!!! LMAO!! Freaking Wedding Party Is Nutzz… Get These Filipino Group With One African Guy Doing The Philippine Prison Dance Routine To MJ Song Thriller!!! So F**king Funny, First Time I Sen This Sh*t Live!! |
These are taken word-for-word from his Facebook page, with only minor editing on the last one to censor the explicit language.
His commenters can be just as bad. In a recent update, one of his friends replied with a Filipino phrase meaning human excrement.
Now he’s a great guy. I know him personally, and that’s how he and his friends usually act in person. But if I were a Facebook user who had never heard of him and came upon his page, I would be horrified. My first impression of him would be that he is uncouth, a drunk, and I would certainly not want to have him at my wedding or special event, no matter how good or talented he is. After all, if this is how he acts online, will he be like this at my event? Will he talk to me like this and act like this during the planning process? Is he reliable?
Here’s another thing: in addition to running his own company, my friend also works as an audiovisual tech for one of the largest AV companies in Hawaii. If you were the owner of the AV company, would you tolerate such language and behavior from your employees? Even if my friend acts like this and does this on his own time, isn’t it still a reflection of you and your business?
Here’s the bottom line:
How you act online is a reflection of how you are seen in person.
Remember that perception is reality: if you present yourself as drunk and uncouth online, that’s what people are going to think of you (and your business) in person. If you present yourself as professional, that’s the impression your prospects will see. If you try to do both (as in a very professional homepage, but a very “ghetto” personal Facebook page), you simply create brand confusion among your potential clients.
Remember: People are watching you.
