Strangely enough I never thought a Texas Tech football coach would get me thinking about digital vanity. Why do we think our comings and goings are so revolutionary? Are we becoming shades of dishonest as people when our various status updates after adding clients / co-workers to social media networks?

Social media gives us guilty entertainment pleasure; from the best in cat pictures to various random celebrity indignities. I have noticed that marketing and sales professionals seem to have taken to Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn like fishies to water. Many of us in sales mix our business with pleasure. This giga trend has led marketers and sales people to hunt deeply in personal and professional networks.

When personal and professional networks combine some interesting things can happen. It can create awkward leaks of information or flashes to past lives (like everyone scanning their grade school pictures). I think Facebook has been vigilant in shutting down overtly commercial people profiles, they prefer for companies to create fan pages. The thing to remember when mixing a cocktail of networks is to communicate with people rather than chatter at them needlessly. Give your network a snack of information they would want to take in their lunchbox (aka water cooler ?)…