There are no shortage of cautionary tales about bad social media posts — just ask Justine Sacco, who posted an ill-advised joke on Twitter during a layover in London before boarding a flight to South Africa. By the time her plane landed 11 hours later, Sacco was an international punchline and internet villain. Two days later, she was out of a job.
Most of us are unlikely to reach Justin Sacco-level notoriety with any social media post, but what we post can impact our lives and the lives of those around us. Here are a few things to avoid on social media, but it's far from an exhaustive list.
* Negative comments or complaints about clients and customers. A private profile is not a guarantee that they won't see or hear about those comments.
* Personal business — yours or someone else's. It doesn't belong on social media could lead to negative consequences for you and others.
* Embarrassing or compromising photos of yourself. Photos are easy to screenshot and share, regardless of your privacy settings. If you don't feel comfortable with everyone in the world seeing a photo, don't post it.
* Workplace politics and complaints about your supervisor or coworkers. It's not just unprofessional, it's unkind.
* Popular hashtags that you haven't researched yourself. Some hashtags have unclear or double meanings that you might not want to be associated with.
Remember one of the most important rules of social media: You may live to regret posting something, but you'll never regret not posting something.