Josh,

What would happen if a colleague didn't like what you said at work? Would you stop talking?

Your issue comes up more and more now, we're moving into the age of brandividuals. Let's hope that you're the same great, smart, funny guy you are professionally that you are personally.

If you're not, maybe that's the issue, not social media.

Rich

I feel your pain. I'm a bit stymied myself regarding my desire to post personal rants or even weekend activities on my Twitter account and the repercussions from my employer or professional network.

So, thus far I've limited posts primarily to promotional comments regarding my organization. I tweeted about my first pheresis donation here at our hospital, and it was re-tweeted by a national organization.

I use my personal Twitter account and my business Twitter account (@demicooper) for different things, but both are valuable in different ways.

My personal account feeds Facebook and other social media sites. Of course I use it to post my thoughts, news or things I find interesting — with the full understanding that anything I post can affect my professional life. But the real value is that I use the accounts as channels for reading different types of information. It's a good way for me to partition business, creative and personal information so that it's a little easier to digest.

In the end, the best rule of thumb is not to post anything your mother wouldn't want to see. Or in this case, your colleagues. Rich's point about brandividuals is a good one - and posting a certain amount of personal information will help you seem like a real, living, breathing person and not just a marketing bot.