As someone who avoids social media as much as possible, I am now learning how important it is to maintain a digital persona. I feel as if I am preaching to the choir at this point, but I know there are some stubborn people like myself out there. In today’s global workplace, your digital self may be more important than your physical presence. You may not have your boss on site, so you use Skype or Google Hangouts to discuss business face to face.

  Major companies hire people, young people, to handle their social media accounts. A 23-year-old may be in charge of running MTV’s Twitter and Facebook, keeping it entertaining but professional. Fast food joints have accounts, asking how your day is and advertising products, and some respond to you like an actual friend. That’s the job of social media managers; they run the corporation’s social accounts and work to give the company a digital “face”.

  A social media manager has to be extremely careful when posting because what they post appears as the company’s official thoughts. If they post something scandalous, the company takes the heat. After the Boston Marathon bombing, recipe website Epicurious sent out two tweets offering breakfast recipes. A business may use an automated system, but that can cause more problems in certain situations. In 2013, Bank of America’s Twitter bot replied to Occupy Wallstreet protesters with offers of reviewing their accounts. American Airlines attempted the same policy with a scripted account that politely replied to every tweet, no matter how nasty.

  Nowadays social media is an important part of who you are to a business. Most companies look through your accounts for anything that may prevent you from being hired. Facebook has denied access to and threatens to sue businesses that require you to give them your password, and it is becoming law in a growing number of states. That doesn’t stop them from logging on to their accounts and trying to be your friend, so don’t just accept new people without making sure they aren’t your potential boss. Also, with some Facebook updates, privacy settings have reset and your account is set back to public. Keep an eye on that if you don’t want your information getting out to strangers. Your mom might be disappointed when she sees what you did last week, but your future boss may decide you don’t fit into company standards and drop your application in the trash. Think twice before you post that picture of yourself passed out in your friend’s bathroom at the last party. Of course, this goes without saying, that any picture of you will probably end up online. The only protection against that is to stay inside by yourself or wear a ski mask every Friday night.