5 Social Media Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Career

There are many mistakes you can make during your workday, and these days one of the deadliest is using social media inappropriately. In order to refrain from making social media mistakes that can derail your career, here are five of the most common missteps to avoid. 

1.  Posting job offers from other companies 

This is a social media mistake that could lead to losing your job almost immediately. If, one day, your manager checks your social media account and finds that you’re advertising another company’s job offer, you can be sure that you’ll be in big trouble. This mistake will not only likely end your current job but will also likely make it difficult for you to find another one in the near future—it won’t be too easy to explain in your next interview why you're looking for a new job.

2. Grumbling about your boss

Even if you find yourself in a quarrel with your boss, never complain about him or her in public. Even if your boss doesn’t see (or hear) your complaints, one of your coworkers might report your bitterness. Of course, everyone struggles at work and has complaints from time to time, but keep your bitterness to yourself and avoid posting any messages, however cryptic, about your boss behind his or her back, or to others. It will never, ever turn out well. 

3. Gossiping about your coworkers 

Comments that you leave about your colleagues are commonly the ones that will get you in trouble. The internet, at almost every office, has a firewall that controls most of the conversations you have during office hours. Therefore, never post or comment on something about anyone from your office (this goes for email and Slack, as well as all social media channels). Chances are someone will see your comment at some point, and it’ll come back to haunt you. 

4. Revealing your after-hours life when you’ve called in sick 

Some days you might feel sick and decide to stay at home instead of going to work. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. Yet, if you do stay at home and miraculously get better by the evening, try to avoid posting the results of the night on social media. It could send the message to coworkers and managers that you weren’t telling the truth in the morning. Similarly, if you’re working remotely or from home, don’t go posting about the long lunch you had or long walk you took. In fact, it’s a good idea to never post when you’re working remotely. It sends the message to your coworkers and managers that you’re not, in fact, working. 

5. Cyberbullying 

Another vital social media career mistake includes cyberbullying. If you comment indecent or inappropriate comments on someone’s social post, you might be engaging in cyberbullying, and that will put your career at stake. If someone you work with (a colleague or client) sees your indecent comments, that could put your current job (and future) career in jeopardy. So try to avoid posting negative comments (even negative emojis!) about anything or anyone on social media, as chances are your comments (or images) will eventually be seen by someone at your current company, or someone whom you want to work for.

Scott Marco Pine is a blogger, writer and editor. He also took part as a conference speaker at Max Polyakov’s Noosphere conference where he shared his knowledge and experience in project management and recruitment.