Today: Oct 06, 2024

To tweet or not to tweet?

Anisa Jibrell – Special to the Southern News

Over the past few years, the popular media outlet Twitter has come a long way and has easily become one of the most common dumping grounds for our random thoughts. From tweeting about your professor’s coma-inducing lectures, to posting not so subliminal tweets about your past lover’s new slice. It’s reasonable to conclude that Twitter’s 140 character limit needs a reevaluation. To be fair, Twitter definitely has it perks, like keeping us up to speed with current events, new technology, and Amanda Bynes’ quarter-life crisis.  The real issue lies in the simple fact that some people become so preoccupied with dishing out every detail of their daily lives that they congest our timelines with rants for a retweet or two, to the point where they forget people are watching.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to stop tweeting 2 Chainz lyrics and being you. Though, in regards to your personal life, exercising a little discretion doesn’t hurt and will probably work to your advantage in the long run. Nowadays, more and more companies are turning to social media during the hiring process to get a better feel for your personality and whether or not you present yourself professionally. Some may argue that this is what LinkedIn is for, and that companies aren’t looking in those types of places to get some insight on what you’re like. However, employers do tend to look into multiple media platforms to ensure that you are consistent in the way you present yourself.

Personally, I love Twitter solely because I can ramble about anything in lieu of talking a friend’s ear off every day and putting a strain on our friendship. But even so, people should be wary of what they share with the rest of your world. Sometimes it’s best to keep our personal views, personal, instead of running the risk of having future employers coming across something that calls your character into question. Especially if you’re sarcastic and tend to make ridiculous comments that you obviously don’t mean and can be taken out of context.

So the question is, where do we draw the line in this Twitterverse? Here are a few pointers on cleaning up your tweet game:

1)    Don’t feel the need to respond to every tweet that you presume to be directed at you. Even if there’s a 99.9% chance the tweet is about you, no response is a response, and there’s always the possibility that it’s not about you so making narrow-minded assumptions isn’t the best idea.

2)    Don’t go into extreme detail about your personal life and refrain from sharing the strong views you hold. The less you disclose the better.

3)    Do not trash talk your current employer. As much as you may enjoy dragging your boss through the mud in your daily tweets, it’s not worth it. Don’t let your inability to bottle up your hatred for your boss hinder you from getting that internship you’ve always wanted, or that dream job after graduation.

Now of course, there are people who take the standard escape route and delete their twitter accounts along with any evidence of a social media footprint. Although that does sound attractively easy, I don’t’ recommend it. Social media is so deeply ingrained into our society and companies are following suit. Promoting your personal brand is almost imperative, and decreasing your visibility on social media will only deter you from new job prospects. You are what you tweet, so protect your brand and tweet safe.

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