Top three Christmas social media risks

Christmas, and the parties that go with it, are usually heaps of fun but if your celebrations get a bit too jovial, try to avoid leaving a permanent record online.

Be aware of these risks and don’t become a social media casualty during the silly season. Your business could pay the price when you return in the New Year.

Here are the top three social media faux pas you need to steer clear of during the festive period.

1.  Drunken tweets

Over 60% of Australians have a smart phone, like an iPhone or a Blackberry, so there’s plenty of scope for something embarrassing to happen when your judgement isn’t 100%. Like when you’ve had a few drinks at a Christmas party.

We can all learn from the Weinergate scandal. New York Congressman Anthony Weiner (yep, that’s his real name) tweeted a lewd photograph of himself to a female college student.

Needless to say, it went viral on Twitter, caused huge damage to his reputation and he was forced to resign.

So quite literally, a single tweet can wreck your career.

So to avoid doing anything stupid yourself, I’d suggest just deleting the Twitter app from your phone before the party and then re-installing it the next day!

2. Posting photos without permission

Say you’re at a Christmas party and you’re swinging around a street sign wearing a Santa hat and someone takes a photo.

It’s probably not the type of photo you’d want posted on Facebook.

But that said, Christmas is a great opportunity to be taking photos because everyone comes together to celebrate.

So when you’re taking photos, I recommend:

• Always take photos early on in the night when everyone looks their best.
• Tell people that you’d like to post the photos on Facebook & ask them if it’s OK.
• Show them the photo so they can veto it or ask to have it retaken.

Always go by the rule, if it were you in the photo and you wouldn’t want it posted on Facebook, don’t put it up.   And always be prepared to remove a photo if requested.

On the flip-side, if you’re being photographed, you should know that if you’re looking at the camera and smiling, then you’ve actually given implied consent that the photographer can post the photo there they like.

If you don’t want your photo used, tell the photographer or avoid being in photos in the first place.

3. Getting caught fibbing because of a Facebook update

With over 800 million people on Facebook, it’s important that your status update doesn’t contradict what you’ve told your staff, suppliers or clients.

If you’ve called in sick for a meeting, for goodness sake don’t update your Facebook status saying that you’re at the beach, hungover or worse yet ‘still partying’.

You can avoid this by leaving your Facebook status alone or better yet, don’t go fibbing in the first place.

Merry Christmas, safe tweeting and see you in 2012!