Separating Your Web 2.0 Business and Personal Life
November 16th, 2008 | 
Author: I have a dilemma I’m sure many of you have, too. I got on Facebook for marketing purposes and tons of old friends found me! So now I have a combination friends list of people from as far back as 4th grade paired with marketing followers.
This makes my participation there a bit harder. On one hand, I want to promote my business, giving good tips about web 2.0, writing, and marketing in general. But then when I post an update on Facebook that says, “Here’s a great autoresponder tool for building your list,” my “old time friends” pipe up and say, “Huh?”
Maybe I should have created two accounts. But it’s too late now. I may have to put a disclaimer for all of my marketing messages.
It doesn’t work both ways, either - well, not really. In marketing, it’s good to let your followers get to know you. I can share news about my family activities with my marketing fans. But what about if an old friend posts on my profile about some wild girls’ night out I had my freshman year in college? (Mind you, I’m being hypothetical here - I would NEVER have been wild - hee hee). In that case, you might not want your marketing fans to see your personal business.
How do you separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak?
Post your tips here!
Tiff 
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November 16th, 2008 9:34 pm
I would set up a page or group for your business stuff, then promote that to the marketing people.
December 20th, 2008 6:30 pm
Facebook is a tricky one: I think for many other social networking sites, people can draw a clear distinction between professional and personal life.
Personally, I have two blogs and two twitter accounts, in an attempt to segment out those different populations. I also tend NOT to add professional contacts (other than coworkers who I also consider friends) to my facebook: that is where I am more casual.
I suppose it is a question of what you want to achieve with your presence there. If it is primarily driven by business objectives, well, maybe those old friends just have to get used to it.. But the idea of friends tagging you in old photos or sharing old stories is a legitimate concern. Unfortunately, people have different levels of comfort with exposing personal details online and it can be a challenge to figure out how best to handle it.
Good luck!