What are the occupational hazards of working in social media?

I really like this approach to blogging. I ask a question before I go to bed here in the UK and when I wake up my friends back in the US have answered the question for me (along with a few Brits). Then while they’re all asleep I round-up the answers into a blog post. This is great.

So last night’s question was one I’ve been pondering for a while:

For those that work in social media, what are the occupational hazards?

January 17, 2012 2:42 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@tacanderson

Tac Anderson

What got me thinking about it is that as more and more of our lives become woven into the fabric of social media, I find it harder and harder to separate my personal and private lives. I start viewing every Facebook post, Tweet or photo as a mini campaign. I start looking at patterns in likes, retweets and comments.

I watch my friends and families behavior to see how it changes over time. I watch what changes they freak out and which ones they don’t even notice. I watch generational differences between my 13-year-old daughter and her friends and my parents and their siblings. I note uses in mobile posting and which apps they use.

To use a crude analogy from my time in Vegas, I’m like a gynecologist at a strip club. When I’m not at work, and I should be having fun I still view the whole experience clinically.

I’ve apologized for this behavior before and while some of this is just the way I am, and the way a lot of you are – we’re naturally curious and enjoy pattern recognition – but some of this is the hazards of the work we do.

In a post by @hanelly about the rise of the professional in social media, Andrew pointed out several recent social media mistakes and made the following observation:

The common thread in all of these social media meltdowns is that the “person” took the wheel and the “professional” took the back seat.

In other words, caught in the heat of the moment, (or in a fit of passion) these people acted very … well, human (in many cases, however, still inappropriately so).

Can we blame them? The beauty of social media is that people are allowed to finally be themselves. Transparency, authenticity and all that, right?

I wondered out loud: “Do we expect social media pro’s to be more human than human?”

When you work in social media and play in social media, you can’t help but feel like you’re always on. Always.

And when I asked you what you felt were the occupational hazards of working in social media boy did you guys have something to say about it.

@tacanderson self censorship

January 17, 2012 2:44 pm via Tweetbot for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@litmanlive

michael litman

@tacanderson carpal tunnel syndrome, phantom vibration syndrome, overshare overload fatigue

January 17, 2012 2:45 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ronschott

Ron Schott

@tacanderson Potentially "on the job" 24/7, your life becomes very public, constantly explaining what you do. BUT it's a fun place to be. :)

January 17, 2012 2:46 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@jenniferwinberg

Jennifer Winberg

@tacanderson a slight inability to disconnect, it can always be justified.

January 17, 2012 2:46 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@aaretz

Anne Aretz

@tacanderson Lack of sleep, follow-through is a challenge, and knowing a little about a lot (thin vs. deep knowledge).

January 17, 2012 2:47 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@timbursch

Tim Bursch

@tacanderson Angry customers can easily find your personal account and spam you. The wall between work life and home life evaporates online.

January 17, 2012 2:48 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@dananderson

Dan Anderson

I would point out that Dan used to run social media for T-Mobile. I’m sure those outages from a year or so ago weren’t any fun for him.

@tacanderson I was signed off sick from work, was casually tweeting from my personal account and lost my job over it (social media exec)

January 17, 2012 2:53 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@FoxSaidWhat

Matt Read

@tacanderson lack of established career growth paths

January 17, 2012 2:54 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@paolojr

Paolo Mottola

@tacanderson Unending workdays, people don't understand/respect what you do, constant changes in platforms, lack of strategy in upper levels

January 17, 2012 3:03 pm via SeesmicReplyRetweetFavorite

@angelbc

Angel Buendia

@tacanderson occupational hazards 4 those working in SM: cliche use, square eyes, pompousness - have fallen victim to all at diff pts

January 17, 2012 3:38 pm via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite

@jonomarcus

jonomarcus

On Facebook @seanodmvp commented: getting so close to the echo chamber of so called social experts that you lose all perspective

And on Path, @jasonfalls said: Physically, none. But your ego will be routinely crushed.

I received probably close to 30 answers. There are too many to include here but thanks to everyone that responded to my query:

@angelbc @jeremymeyers @nathanmisner @jonomarcus @kg @paolojr @FoxSaidWhat @Hokuboku @dananderson @wisejohnp @wisejohnp @timbursch @aaretz @jenniferwinberg @ronschott @mikewhitmore @litmanlive @JHouston89 @jenharris09 @venson @michellerafter @susanbeebe @npja @jasonfalls @bobbbyg @jnoche

I’d love to hear what you guys think? Do you work in social media? What occupational hazards do you find?

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