A Facebook Fiasco

I neared the completion of my college career and it was time to apply for jobs. My goal was to get a job at a digital advertising agency. While I was in school I attended every ad club event I could make it to. I was fortunate to hear from a slew of advertising professionals from across the country. They shared tips on how to apply for a job, what websites we should check out, email etiquette and of course, what students should and should not be doing with social media.

They all told us about someone they knew of that had either not gotten hired for a job they were supposed to get or they had gotten let go because of inappropriate content on Facebook. They all had the same message; “Clean up your Facebook, and don’t be friends with people that would post something inappropriate about you.”

I had already taken the time to remove anything from my Facebook that I wouldn’t want my mother to see (my mother was now on Facebook and making comments on my wall and photos). I wasn’t worried about my Facebook content, but I didn’t trust some of the crazies that I hung out with during my first years of college. I asked one recruiter if it was a bad idea to deactivate my Facebook. After hearing my explanation of why I didn’t want to take a chance of letting anything get in the way of my goal she told me it wasn’t a bad idea, even though it was a little odd.

A typical Facebook horror story had an impact on me. None of my peers took it seriously, but by now I was convinced that Facebook wasn’t going to help me get where I wanted to be. Besides, I was already using LinkedIn to communicate with advertising professionals which were already in the field, so maybe I didn’t need a social network that users spend over 700 billion minutes on per month. It occurred to me that I was being a bit extreme, but perhaps it was time for me to do something that no one else dared to do.  So on a crisp autumn evening, I ended my four year relationship with Facebook. It was easier than I had thought it would be even though Facebook made me take a survey. After answering questions about the reasons why I wanted to deactivate, my page was gone.

Time passed and the seasons changed. Graduation came and passed and so did the Holidays. I didn’t miss Facebook at all, and I never once thought that I needed to reactivate it. My marketing internship at Ascentium began and I still wasn’t using Facebook. The ladies in the marketing department didn’t think I was too crazy because I didn’t have a Facebook. Still, I was beginning to suspect that others I met at the agency thought I was a little nuts because of my social network abstinence.

When my internship was complete, I was offered a full time position. This was without a doubt 100% what I wanted to do. Not only was I full of excitement, I was proud, relieved, and also curious. I asked myself, “Should I return to Facebook?” No one from HR or my new boss ever said anything to me about Facebook while I was an intern.  LinkedIn had come up in discussion but there was never a question as to why I couldn’t be found on a social network with enough members to become the world’s third largest country. I certainly didn’t think Ascentium hired me because I didn’t have a Facebook account. Maybe they didn’t notice. I thought that Facebook and I might be done for good.

My first day at Ascentium as a full time employee was exciting. I was excited to meet the people that I would be working with and I was definitely excited about working. Spending my college years working in a restaurant gave me plenty of time to daydream about my future at an ad agency. I ate lunch with my boss and a few others from the team. As we chitchatted with one another over some delicious Japanese food the discussion moved to social media. You cannot have a conversation about social media without Facebook getting brought up because everything gets compared to Facebook. That’s when she asked me, “You’re on Facebook, right?” I didn’t want to answer her question. “Well….” I responded. Before I could finish my answer, she had already let me know that I’d better have a Facebook account by the end of the day. I knew she was right. I no longer needed to hide from Facebook. I knew it was time to join the 500 million active users.  

I was in an elevator the other day and I saw a quote that reminded me of my Facebook fiasco, said by George S. Patton. “Take calculated risks, that is quite different from being rash.” I definitely took a risk by deactivating my Facebook, especially since I wanted to work at a digital agency in the year 2011. I was comfortable with my deactivation even though I had been a bit rash by initially jumping ship. I didn’t want anything holding me back, so I took a calculated risk and ditched one piece of my online presence to better build up my presence on other social media. I began to Tweet more and I began to connect with more people on LinkedIn. One of my friends from class told me I had committed “social suicide” when I axed Facebook. He couldn’t have been more wrong. I learned a lot because of my actions, especially how important Facebook is to digital marketing.