While we may not be rocking in treehouses, we’re certainly rocking the Internet. Tweets come and go all day long, but have you ever stopped to think about what exactly YOU should be tweeting?

My social media strategy for my personal brand is simple: don’t share it unless you would show it to your grandma (which, in my case, pushes some boundaries, but I’m ok with that); share some personal tidbits; be aware of your followers and YOUR message.

I’ve been told I’m crazy, stupid and foolish for this strategy, but guess what – MediaBistro just vindicated the heck out of it! (Insert crazy touchdown dance here).

In this recent MediaJobsDaily article, the author wonders if “we’ve been doing Facebook wrong our whole careers,” to which I say — if you’re not sharing personal details, then YES, yes you have!

Now, am I suggesting you share your 21st birthday photos with your co-workers? Of course not (we all know how well that strategy works out for LiLo).

I AM saying that you should be able to share something about yourself that shows you’re not a robot; that shows you enjoy what you do every day and they you, yes you, have an opinion to contribute to this society.

How do you “social media?” Do you agree with me? Or disagree? I’m kind of hoping you disagree, after all, if you’re getting negative feedback you’re firing people up, so that means YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?!

Victoria Reitano is a Digital Producer at Live! with Kelly. She works at ABC in New York and is so happy to be reunited with her true love – Manhattan. In her spare time, she dabbles with her blog, The Giornalista Files, where she shares her ideas about being an early career lady journo with anyone who will listen. Reitano feels Yoga is the perfect compliment to her obsessive need to consume information on a constant basis and when she’s not practicing that, she’s cycling at one studio or another as spin is the perfect compliment to her Staten Island background — fist pump, anyone? Connect with her on Twitter @giornalista515 for laughs, thoughts and some tricks of the trade.

Tags: advice, ethics, Gen J, Gen Jers, generation j, journalism, journalist, journalists, new media, reputation, social media, Society of Professional Journalists, spj, twitter, young reporters

This entry was posted by Victoria Reitano on Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 5:44 am and is filed under Gen J, Gen Jers, Generation J, Journalism, new media, news, newsroom, SPJ, Tips, young journalists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.