Sunday, January 18, 2009

Interesting social networking lessons

Earlier this week, I made the following twitter update just befor an
"operations announcement" that had been arranged the previous work
day.

It was nothing, just the exact statement of what I was doing at that
moment. And through the magic of technology, it was my status update
on Facebook, Plaxo and my blog.

Human nature is what it is. My statement caused others to be curious
about my meeting. And that's what social networks are for - to
connect you to other people.

When I learned what was beng anounced, that one of our plants was to
be closed, I wished I had been a little less open. It had yet to be
public information and even other organizations in the company had yet
to learn about it.

In response to my friend's queries, I just quouted The Go-Gos, vuia
blip.fm, "my lips are sealed." That response even got one friend to
call me, because that kind of 80's pop isn't my kind of music.

Eventually, our announcement made the newswire (thank you Google
Alerts) and I was able to share my info. It was kind of sad as we had
closed the plant that I used to work in a few years previously.

These social networks are a great way to keep in touch with your
friends, but one has to be mindful of what you say.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I was cracking jokes because I thought that you wouldn't post that if it was an important announcement. Sigh.

Beau said...

Yeah, I wouldn't have wondered publicly, if I had known the potential magnitude of the announcement.

Usually, its something mundane, like the new objectives for the year or someone retiring...

Erik said...

oof - I've been in that position before, and even with a far less public forum than Twitter, that can get pretty awkward.

Beau said...

Awkward, yeah and I didn't even share anything that should be kept private.

The internet makes it pretty easy to open mouth and put your foot in.