What You Say Can and Will Be Used - Either For You or Against You

Even before two interns to US Presidential candidate John Edwards were fired for posts found on their personal blogs, this topic was on my mind.

Article writing and blog posting have become a huge industry on the web and have become a way for many of us to be "who we are" to a faceless audience. Sometimes this anonymity can be intoxicating and we forget that there really are people out there who are going to read what we wrote and judge us on what they find.

In addition to these two girls who have lost their footing in a presidential campaign, I read recently of a number of people who have lost the race for new jobs because employers went online to find out more information about the candidate.

Information found in social networks, such as MySpace, are generally written to an entirely different audience from your employer, but employers and human resource personnel have just as much right and access to these writings as do your peers.

Be careful what you write, whether it is in an article or on your blog or on social networks such as MySpace. What you write will be available in cyberspace for years to come and you can bet that eventually it will be used - either for you or against you.

If you must let off steam, follow these simple rules

• Avoid name calling
• Avoid profanity
• Present solutions that others can learn from
• Include in your writing how the conflict or problem was resolved
• Learn to let off steam or state your opinion in ways that will not prohibit you from furthering your career or your good name

A piece of great advice I read one time is to "write down good news; speak bad news." The logic behind this is that what is written can be read and reread and will be remembered word for word. Bad news should not be conveyed in a way that will be remembered as bad news.

Good news, however, what you learned, how you have changed as a result, etc., should be remembered and therefore should be written down for yourself and for others.

You may want to let off steam now by writing an article or a post about your employer or your teacher or some other awful thing that has happened, but before you hit the "publish" button, think about the long-lasting impression your words will have for people in authority whom you one day will not want to alienate.



Copyright © Claudia Pate
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