On Friday I was lucky enough to sit in on Jack Kruger’s session at Nomadic Marketing. Jack is the head of digital at Old Mutual and was speaking an corporate social media. In amongst some entertaining and eye-opening examples, were some great take-aways.

The most important of them was simply this: stop and think. Keep in mind that anything you say online is potentially there to be found for a long time, and while you may be speaking in your personal capacity, you are connected to clients and employers and your words have consequences.

This graphic that I attempted to reproduce from memory of Jack’s slides shows the potential implications of your words. Most people have an employer or company that they work for, so think through how what you are about to say would reflect on them. And how would your words be perceived by any future employers? At the other end of that axis are your clients. Not only people that you deal with directly, but your employer/company’s clients. A flippant remark today may result in lost business tomorrow. The other axis looks at how it reflects on you as a person – both in your professional capacity and in your private/personal capacity. Where they all intersect will give you some idea of the impact that it will have on your reputation.

Type. Pause. Consider. My rule of thumb is that if I wouldn’t say it to your face, I won’t say it online. At least that’s what I try stick to!