Social Media Overload: Don’t Twitter Yourself Out

This is a post I wrote for Brazen Careerist…

Is it just me, or does work really seem to get in the way of blogging, managing your Facebook page, adding new LinkedIn contacts, sharing snippets on Twitter and, if you’re really bored and looking for a little nostalgia, logging in to MySpace?

Like me, most of the people I “follow” on social networking sites have full-time jobs. Yet somehow they are still able to find time to manage their own micro multimedia conglomerates aggregating and sharing information on cool new websites and resources that most of us haven’t even heard of.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m either suffering from Twitter envy or everyone else is suffering from Twitter addiction…not only are they posting five, six or more updates an hour, they almost always refer to value added, meaningful stuff. Meanwhile, I’m tweeting about being stuck in traffic or about how much I like pickles–two things that aren’t that exciting and don’t add a lot of value unless you’re a lobbyist for light rail systems or the pickle marketing association. Yet, if I go a day without adding something profound to Twitter, I feel like I’ve dropped the ball—even though I only have a modest number of “followers.”

To keep up with the “in crowd,” I try to find five or ten minutes during the day to uncover something profound to share with the masses while realizing that every time I update my status on Facebook, there’s a good chance I’m alerting clients, coworkers and even my boss that I’m surfing the web.

Managing my modest “online presence” is an important part of my personal and professional brand, but it’s not like I can use searching for articles to share with folks on Twitter as an excuse with my boss if I miss on key deliverables or don’t complete an important project on time. In fact, during my provisional review last week, all we talked about was my on-the-job performance—not my blog, the number of LinkedIn contacts I have in my network, how many followers I have on Twitter, or even my Facebook status.

Which brings me to the questions I’ve been kicking around…

• Should you tell your boss you’re spending time at work on social networking sites when it’s not work related?
• How much time is too much time on any of these sites when you’re at work?
• As a manager, what do you do if members of your team are letting Twitter and Facebook get in the way work?

Humor in the workplace?

I think most would agree that humor in the workplace is a good thing. After all, who doesn’t want to work in an office where it’s okay to joke around and have fun? The question is how much humor is okay, and when do you use it?

The use of humor often starts during the interview process. You want to establish rapport with the interviewer and one of the best ways to do that is to use humor. However, sometimes even the wittiest comments or observations aren’t perceived that way. And, instead of hearing a hearty laugh, you end up hearing the sound of crickets as the interviewer stares blankly back at you for what seems like a lifetime.

Then there’s the job itself. Anyone who has worked with me will tell you (sometimes even without prompting), that as a team member I like to joke around and have fun at work. But, at the same time, I don’t want to be typecast by my boss or fellow coworkers as “the jokester.” Injecting a little humor in the workplace is great, but if it starts to overshadow my contributions to the team, it could be a career killer. One rule you should always keep in mind: make sure anything you say is 100% politically correct. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard people say things they thought were funny that made my jaw drop to the floor.

When you add managing people to the humor mix, it can become even dicier. I’ve always put a lot of thought around when and where to joke around but, as clear as those distinctions have seemed to me, I realize they might not seem as clear to other members of my team. As a result, if I have to give them constructive feedback about the importance of balancing professionalism and humor, I may appear to look like a hypocrite. As a manager, it’s important to have a good sense of humor, but it’s even more critical that your use of humor is both timely and appropriate so you don’t send mixed signals to your direct reports.

When it comes to the role of humor in the workplace, be yourself—if you like to joke around, great. If you don’t, that’s okay too.  I don’t hold it against anyone if they don’t inject humor into the workplace; but if they don’t laugh at my jokes, I’ll give them 30 days to find another job.

See what I mean…? I’m just kidding.

I give them two weeks.

Not a fan of networking? Throw in a little pre-March Madness

The hardest part of networking is also the hardest part about starting a conversation with someone you’d like to ask out on a date…figuring out what you’re going to say to break the ice. Unlike dating situations where it’s difficult to find a common interest in a particular sports team, when you’re networking with a fellow graduate from the same college or university, bringing up your college sports team can be a great conversation starter.

During my years working in career services, I’ve even found this to be effective when meeting new recruiters. You don’t have to be an expert or a sports junkie to use it to your advantage; you just have to know enough to have a brief, yet meaningful, conversation that you can use to segue into other topics. And, don’t assume interest in sports varies by gender. I’ve met some female recruiters and alumnae who seemingly know more about our sports programs than our Athletic Director.

What do you need to know to speak intelligently and effectively about your college sports team?

Name of the school’s mascot. The last thing you’d want to do is refer to the wrong name when speaking with a recruiter or possible networking contact. In some cases, you’ll also want to know what the mascot is…take, for example, Stanford’s tree…I’m still not exactly sure of the back story on the mascot so I wouldn’t be able to talk about it if I were networking with a Stanford grad. The same could be said for the following mascots: Banana Slugs (University of California-Santa Cruz), Catamounts (University of Vermont), and Zips (University of Akron).

Name and stats of the star player(s). Again, you don’t have to be able to recite season and life-time stats of everyone on the team, just be able to know some basic information on their one or two best players. When I worked at UNC, this usually meant talking about Tyler Hansbrough. And, equally important, you need to be able to speak to whether he or she had either a great game or a really bad game. That allows you to start conversations with lead-ins like “Can you believe that shot (insert name here) hit?”

How they’re doing as a team. If they’re doing really well, you can leverage that to start the conversation. If they’re terrible, you can commiserate as a way to build rapport. When I was an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, our football team was…how should I say…not good. So, when I would run into Pitt alumni, I would use the “I feel your pain” approach to start the conversation.

Starting a networking conversation by referencing college sports early in the conversation is an effective strategy for most job seekers, but especially for international students studying in the U.S. Bridging cultural divides, hobbies, and interests can be incredibly difficult. Being able to speak about your college or university football or basketball team can really help break the ice. Over the years, the international students who have fared better at networking are often those who were able to either initiate, or respond to, conversations about the college team.