In 2017, social media is so much more than just sharing updates and photos with friends and family. Now, your online presence is what’s known as your “personal brand,” and it’s important in many ways that most of us (bloggers excluded) probably wish it wasn’t. As such, it’s no longer advisable to post whatever pops into your head; instead, smart girls know that the content they contribute to their social media accounts is a reflection of who they are, who they want to be, and who they’d like to be viewed as professionally. Here, seven things these savvy women aren’t likely to share on social.
How Not To Sabotage Yourself On Social
Like most of the items on this list, this one is a personal judgment call. However, unless you work in an artistic field, we would generally recommend abstaining from birthday-suit pics. We wish we lived in a culture that normalized female nudity instead of sexualizing it. But, since we don't quite yet, nude or almost-nude (topless or booty) shots can definitely cause you to be discriminated against if you're out there trying to get a new job. Besides, do you really want your boss to know what you look like naked?
Do not film anything that goes on in your office without your boss' explicit permission. If you want to post an innocuous-seeming IG story, ask a coworker to watch it before posting—just to ensure there isn't anything confidential going on in the background. (But better yet, just abstain.)
You just broke up with your significant other, and we get it—you want to post content that makes him or her feel bad about losing you. The problem is that this type of content often has the opposite effect: It will just make you seem like a sad person struggling through a breakup. When you're in the throes of an emotional event, we suggest waiting 24 hours before posting anything new. Chances are that after some thought, you'll realize the post doesn't make you look as desirable as you hoped. (It's also worth noting that a sudden flurry of inspirational quotes is a very obvious cry for help, so consider this before you go overboard with words of wisdom.)
Try to adequately research something before posting about it, as you never know these days what might get picked up by the mainstream media. Admittedly, this is more of a concern on Twitter than it is on Instagram, but still—we'd be wary of posting anything that's misinformed.
It's so hard to resist posting pictures of babies—our mom-friends who said they'd never do it end up doing it ceaselessly. That's an individual choice, however, and parents can of course post whatever content they want about their own kids. (Although one 18-year-old did recently sue her parents for posting baby photos of her to Facebook—yikes.) You shouldn't, on the other hand, post pictures of any children that aren't yours without express permission—this is a big, illegal no-no.
Duh.
Smart girls know that no matter how small their following, the content they post is indicative of their professional brand, and therefore should feel original and accessible. For this reason, they avoid posts that can be found on every other feed or that feels overtly braggy, including but not limited to: airplane wings, hot-dog beach legs, frozen yogurt, fish lips, anything first-class, complex health food only Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon should know how to make, matcha lattes and lattes in general, succulents and, finally, #blessed.
