Your Employer, Your Pastor, Your Lawyer & Your Mother are watching.

I will never forget the day I saw my 80 something year old mother update her Facebook. I asked her how she learned how to do that and what her interest in social platforms might be. I mean really you are in your 80’s. She said she wanted to keep up with her grand-kids. That in order to stay in touch she had to be in touch and she was going to learn. She also informed me that she had no idea I had a blog until she got on Facebook. She said she had spent hours reading my blog after I posted a link on Facebook.

I got a “lead” for a great job opportunity. I was excited about the idea of this job once presented. My instincts felt a bit different. Something, and I could not put my finger on that something, did not feel right. Then I did some due diligence.  I want onto Facebook to check out the person I would be working under. I looked at all the social platforms around this individual. I was appalled and shocked. And I saw how this person complained about former clients who had fired him, and how he blew up his streams with profanity. I thought it might be prudent to let this opportunity go.

Today a young woman posted on Facebook about her job. I have watched this sweetheart grow up. I love her heart and her story and love how she does life. She was sent home from work for not having the correct attire on. It was a simple innocent post, however if one single person knows her employer, or another co-worker this could be taken out of context and misinform her employer.

This past week I had to have my entire 10 years of being on Facebook downloaded and handed to an opposing party for a personal legal matter. At first it felt highly intrusive. But then  I thought of the messages and content that will be viewed. I have been hired by national brands for the very messaging and content I share. My online space has been one where I try to encourage, share real life events, and hope that one person may laugh, be blessed, be encouraged, be challenged, will learn something new and most important feel love and kindness. Rest assured that anyone can take your goodness and turn it into something not so favorable, but the realization that whoever reads my streams may come away feeling blessed made me feel more joy than intruded upon. Why?  These are public platforms.

Today, more than ever, decisions are being made about you based on your content shared. What are you sharing? What messages are you communicating?  If you knew your mother was watching would share what  you are sharing?  Do you care what your employer, your pastor, your lawyer, your mother thinks? If you are called on to download your history in social media do you panic or do you smile over the simple fact that someone is going to come away blessed? Someone is going to be reading what Jesus is doing in your life daily.

Your social sharing is your resume for life and for opportunity. I later learned that this person who wanted to hire me was really not a nice person. His response to me when I declined the job was similar to his sharing on Facebook.  Instincts were correct and going to social media to look over this person was very helpful.

We are in an age of now having to accept the simple fact that social media is not going away. Although I have had my Facebook sharing open to friends and family, my own community of people, the bottom line is that this information is still subject to be public. Not because of court orders. But for the simple fact that anyone in your community can share you content, take screen shots, and share outside of your intended community.  I have had to spend a great deal of time teaching my children this very fact. Does your walk and talk in real time reflect who you are online? Today that answer should be yes. It better because the eyeballs of the future are in the palm of everyone’s hand. Our employers, our pastors, our lawyers and yes even our mothers are reading up. You may have the skills needed for a job. Skills that should have nothing to do with your personality or personal life. However we have moved into a space of relational thinking on all the levels of life we live. Being called to a higher standard of performance because today your integrity and character will help you with that next job. And your employers, your pastors, your lawyers and your mother’s are watching you.

This picture is the header on my personal blog. The one my mother reads. It’s true to my heart. Those who know me in real face to face time embrace this kind of sharing. They know my story. I love sharing the stories of my heart and how God steps into my everyday life. I love sharing that others may know and understand my life as a Jesus person. And perhaps be encouraged and take courage in the journey of their stories. My journey of mothering, once upon a time being wife, my journey with a deaf son, and experiencing a brain tumor. God showing up in the middle of my everyday story may offend a future and perspective client. I take that risk. Why?  I am about relationships with people. We are in relationship whether we are working or playing, mothering, being a wife, single divorced mom, and on our jobs.I love that IBM Commerce invited me in as a guest for an online chat. I love that they  called me a “customer experience expert” because in both my business life and personal life people matter. The experiences we provide through our social sharing is important to your relationships. It’s how life is lived and learned.

Your social networks are the platform for your story. Make it YOURS. In the social space I view as I would if we were sitting in a room together. Be kind. Be respectful. Be encouraging. Be the wonderful you that God designed.

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About Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery

Interior Designer, Consultant, Artist. Which is it they ask? All of the above. God has blessed me in ways that words cannot describe. Doing what I love and making a career out of it all. Starting with a beautiful designer showroom. Decorating homes and specializing in kid's spaces. Magazine covers and spreads, then show homes. Adding in business consulting. Working alongside my clients to develop a strategic plan to design and market their product or service in the correct markets. Then one day, after years of painting for my clients, a few gallies, my hobby business I decided in the second half of my life to bring Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery to life. I took my paintings to the streets and flipped my website into my "Art You Love" business. Do what you love and love what you do. Adding Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery and creating artful pieces for your home, office, business. An empty wall invites art you love by Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery. Your Dreams & Passions, My Experience & Help. Let's work together and build something beautiful in your home business, or on your walls.