The biggest, latest, and greatest method of S.E.O. and S.E.R.M. is social networking. What seems like something new and freshest thing for about the past year or 2, is something some of us have been in on for quite some time. All of my social networking accounts are personal, including my Twitter. My Twitter account I made for 0 means of Search Engine Optimization... but if you Google my name Dustin Ma, I have the first 2 spots of Google because of my Twitter. I have 2150 updates and I created it January of this year. Every single social site I have currently are all personal.( that is about to change because I need to start networking for S.E.O. clients)
So currently I have all my profiles open and I have never once regulated anything on them, I had no reason too. What am I to do now, I created my Myspace back in my sophomore year of high school, I was 15 at the time. You want to talk about a Social Networking or Media expert who remembers or was even around when Tila Tequila (used to be Tila Nguyen) was just making her network and hadn't even broke records yet. Myspace used to run smooth, then they had a huge increase in users and you constantly displayed error messages. (Twitter in the next 6 months anyone?)
So now what do I do, do I change everything I have, do I put everything on private, or do I leave them on public? Most experts say make everything private and I completely understand why, what if a potential client sees it, what if a co-worker sees it, etc. But making everything private leaves room for suspicion. Why do they need it private, what is he hiding, this cover it all up mentality can backfire. The approach I am telling everyone is to make it public and moderate, moderate what you do and say. Almost every single social network site puts the creator in a position to delete comments, and edit everything on there. Imagine an employer goes to your Myspace, Facebook, etc. and they see some questionable material, whether it's you hitting the clubs Saturday night, or that little get together you had on thirsty Thursday. Most employers want to get a sense of honesty with their employees, at least they know who you are and what you do. Now imagine they go to your site and see a "You have to be this person's friend to view their profile" type message. Most people assume the worst and they think they are hiding something, then they use the company acct. to send you a friend add. Now instead of a client or employer just looking at your site, they want to be friends, so all those fun surveys you post and all those dumb quizzes you do, will be known. Sure you can ignore the add but then it really can hurt your potential new job.
My take from someone who has had profiles much longer than many others is keep it open, just moderate.
