Over on Corporette today we’re talking about how you use social media with coworkers, but I’ve often felt that it’s been interesting how becoming a parent has changed the way I use social media (particularly Facebook!), so let’s discuss!
For my own $.02:
I only use LinkedIn professionally and with very good friends — I would not link with a random mom I knew there, and not even with someone I knew in their professional capacity like a principal or teacher or something.
{related: here are the best tips for how to use LinkedIn for job hunting}
For Facebook, I’m pretty free with whom I befriend, and I’m friends with a zillion moms from my boys’ classes and activities, as well as with parents in the neighborhood. I’ve actually heard about a lot of great local activities through these relationships! That said, I almost never post on Facebook personally, and I’ev set who can see my posts to a pretty private setting with only “real” friends.
I also use Facebook for a zillion parenting groups and other special interest groups — as I explained on Corporette, I use the groups as sort of a specialized search engine, where if I’m curious about something I’ll go directly to a specific group and look for it. I also kind of consider it an easy way to learn by osmosis — for example, for my son who suffers from a bit of misophonia, I am unlikely to read a book or listen to a podcast just on misophonia, but seeing the occasional post from the misophonia group on Facebook is always helpful for a tip or better understanding of the disorder.
(That said, I had a bad experience with the Facebook app years and years ago and so refuse to download it or Messenger — I only check Facebook on the desktop.)
Readers, how about you — are you befriending other moms you know on social media? Are you following them on Instagram or other apps? Did becoming a parent change the way you use LinkedIn?
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