Throughout the past few decades, technology has progressed at an astonishing rate. With these advancements have come many great tools, including the Internet and with that, social media. Social media is any Internet-based application or site that allows users to share information and communicate with groups of people domestically and even globally. Some popular applications are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and, more recently, Snapchat. Each has its own special features and tools, but they all have the same basic concept, which is to share information and interact with the public. With the rapid development of smartphones and other mobile devices, communication and interaction is instantaneous and right at our figure tips. It is easy to connect with friends and family and news articles, messages and events can be shared and discussed with a few simple actions on a phone. 

Social media has become a routine part of life, not only for the individual but also for businesses and public figures. It has extended into newspapers, restaurants, and even healthcare, each finding new uses for these new online applications and websites. It has become a great networking and marketing tool for individuals in the professional world. Sites like LinkedIn, a business-oriented networking application, allow individuals to make connections with people in their field, in other branches of that discipline, or in other businesses. Corporations and small businesses all use social media as a marketing device, because of its wide reach and its inexpensive range of features and tools. Social media allows businesses to connect with each individual on a global scale. They can share music, events, messages and new products. For example, Coca-Cola uses their Facebook page to advertise by sharing recipes using their products, their commercials, and new products like  "Coke Stripe" (Coca-Cola). 

Social media has a vast number of uses, and like many other things, they can be both positive and negative. As social media has developed, the need for privacy settings and regulations has increased dramatically. Two of the main reasons for this are stalking and cyber bullying. With social media stalking has become easier, but only if there are no privacy settings in place. Cyberbullying has become a very popular form of bullying because it lets the bully be anonymous, making it much harder to track down the offender, or offenders. Since cyberbullying can be done through social media, it opens it up to multiple offenders. Those who are cyberbullied can also be bullied in person. This type of bullying is not only common among children, but also university students and adults in the workplace. Online mistakes made by adults have "led to public shamings, both on- and off-line, including the loss of their jobs, public harassment, and even death threats" (Tolek).

Personal issues are not the only ways that social media use can go wrong. There are also issues that arise through professional use. Many things can define professionalism, but each definition appears to conclude the same thing; it is important to know how to act in a specific situation. For instance, a beach bag does not contain a winter parka and rain boots, just as party planners do not act like doctors in their professional environment. Ethical and moral standing is especially important in professionalism. Employees are expected to reflect the same image as the company they work for. Reflecting the wrong image gives the company a bad name. Social media allows employees to network with their coworkers, but the ability to broadcast a message about the unfair treatment of employees may send the wrong message to employers who you "friend" on Facebook. They would not want someone who talks negatively about their job working for them. Ethics and moral principles are significant factors of an upstanding employee, and when these principles are tarnished on social media it is difficult to redeem them. 

Through case studies, it will be proven that there is a need for constantly updated rules and regulations that can adjust to modern social media standards. The newer generations approve of the idea that everything can be and should be shared. Anything that is posted on the Internet stays on the Internet; nothing can be completely erased from existence anymore. Does that mean that it should affect our everyday lives? Social media should be a tool that we can use interchangeably in personal and professional environments. A solution can be found to allow interchangeable use by looking at how social media is used in both environments, by examining the arguments for privacy in social media use and by establishing guidelines for personal and professional use.

As the computer became the necessary tool of today there has been a debate on how technology should be used in the workplace; games at work, unprofessional work emails, surfing the web. Since then, these cases have become more intense often going to court to be resolved. Many of these cases are highly controversial, with influence from a number of different factors. Though personal and professional networks appear to be separate they do, "collide in unforeseen ways." The line between the two seemingly separate areas blurs as we build our networks of "colleagues, former classmates, friends, and family" (Kimball and Kim 186). In some of these cases, the authors do not provide names and locations, since these are personal experiences and could be related back to them.

In "Here We Are Now, Entertain Us," Raizel Liebler and Keidra Chaney write about two case studies where the employees were using their personal social media to advertise for a company. The first one they review is the "PhoneDog v. Kravitz" case. Noah Kravitz began working as the "voice" of PhoneDog.com in April 2006. His job included being a social media presence for the company. He tweeted on an account used only by him with the handle @PhoneDogNoah. During his employment, he amassed a number of followers. When his employment ended in October 2010, Noah continued to use the twitter account to promote for his new employer, but changed the handle to his name @noahkravitz. 

PhoneDog.com sued Noah Kravitz for, "misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, negligent interference with prospective economic advantage, and conversion." PhoneDog.com claimed that the twitter users following Kravitz were still in an economic relationship with the company. The case ended with the conclusion that the followers could have been there for Noah since his name was in the handle or for PhoneDog.com. Noah created the Twitter account while working for PhoneDog.com, but since he was the only user and his name was on it, the account was settled as his. This is one case where personal and professional collided. Most of Kravitz tweets were about the company and not his personal life but the account appeared to be his because of his name and his sole use (Liebler and Chaney 421-424).

Rosen's main example in, "The Web Means the End of Forgetting," was the case of Stacey Snyder. Snyder while in training as a high school teacher posted a picture to her Myspace page captioned, "Drunken Pirate." It was from a party, she was drinking out of a plastic cup and wearing a pirate hat. When her supervisor found the photo, he told her it was "unprofessional." The Dean of the Millersville University School of Education told her she was advertising that drinking was acceptable to her under-aged students in high school. Due to these events, she was denied her teaching degree a few days before graduation. Snyder sued the University, stating that they had violated her right to free speech; however, a federal judge rejected her claim. Snyder status as a public employee made her photo a violation since it did not concern public matters; therefore, it was not free speech. Snyder is not the only teacher or public employee that has been affected by these matters.

Mary Anne Watson and Gabrielle R. Lopiano wrote a fake case study for the Harvard Business Review. It follows all of the real processes of this type of case but to prevent an obstruction of privacy, they created their own. The case follows Savannah Winslow as she tries to figure out how to approach a situation where an employee commented negatively on social media about the business. The employee, James Kenton, posts on Facebook about a launch party for the Mercedes dealership where they are both employed. His post reads, "So thrilled that Downcity [the dealership] went 'all out' for the most important launch in years. Nothing says luxury like plastic tablecloths and soda pop," with a picture of a soda can and the Downcity dealership sign in the background.

Susannah looks at the post on his Facebook page and finds that he has few privacy settings on allowing coworkers and associates to view his negative post about the dealership. This is Kenton's second offense. Management was clear that he not do it again, so Susannah is confused as to why he has and they are uncertain about how they should approach the situation. He violated explicit rules in the employee manual but they had not yet updated it to include social media. They come up with three options: ignore it, make an example of him, or fire him. None of these options seem to fit the situation, though. 

The next day Susannah talks to a younger employee around Kenton's age, Rachel Evans. She offers to give some insight on their generation to Susannah. Rachel tells Susannah that Kenton is probably embarrassed, that their generation grew up sharing their opinions with friends, family, and even employers. She says he should improve privacy settings, think twice about adding professional contacts as friends, and directly approach the ownership about things that he thinks should be done differently. Rachel also says that his behavior is probably something that comes naturally though and it may end up happening again.

With the introduction of computers in the 1980s, the millennial generation was born. When this generation began their careers almost every home had a computer and an Internet connection. The next generation, Generation Z, was introduced to computers at a young age, growing up with them and the rapid advancement of technology (Steinmetz and Sanburn 134) The appeal of social sites began with email because of the quick, accessible communication with people around the world. Next came the early social media sites like Friendster and Myspace, to establish a network of connections among peers and friends. Since then social media has changed that intended path into a way to reach an audience. 

There are now over 200 active social media applications that can be used to share information and interact with an audience (Tolek). Around 73% of American adults and 83% of young adults use the Internet for social networking (Drouin et al. 123). The most popular social media site among these is Facebook, which has reached over 1.5 billion in active monthly users (Bromwich). In 2007, Facebook launched new profiles for businesses called "pages," these allowed businesses to market towards their customers (Liebler and Chaney 404). The potential for social media marketing was left alone for a while. According to Dutta, only 19 of the top 50 CEOs in 2010 were on social media and those that were, did not use it effectively. When marketing and advertising on social media started to become more popular, individual use began to change. The modern individual now uses social media for three reasons: to create an individual brand, to stay up to date on trends or to connect with peers, family and the public. With this change comes a new risk. Things that were once viewed privately are now shared with a broader, more public audience. A recent study that Rosen mentions showed that "18-to-29-year-olds are actually more concerned about their online profiles than older people are, vigilantly deleting unwanted posts, removing their names from tagged photos and censoring themselves as they share personal information because they are coming to understand the dangers of oversharing." In the studies done in "Facebook Fired," the results revealed that younger people with fewer experiences were more willing to overshare online (Dourin et al. 127).

As younger people enter higher education and careers, a public image becomes even more important. Tolek and Kelsey point out that The New York Times published an article about the importance of an online public image when applying to college and for that reason students now clean their accounts. This task can be almost impossible since the Internet does not forget and other users can share an individual's personal information. Student athletes are also restricted in what they can post. Universities restrict or ban social media use to prevent a harmful image for the college similar to Stacey Snyder's situation of being denied graduation (Rosen). Older students are even more concerned with public image, as jobs have begun screening applicants based on their social media presence.

In the past 10 years, organizations have begun to see the need for social media regulation as more cases relating so these issues appear in courts of law. Social media use is nearly impossible to avoid in today's society. It is the role of an organization to help employees understand the dangers of social media and make sure to avoid risks themselves. The first step is to create a specific section for social media use. The next stage is to examine how personal uses of social media could influence professional ones. The biggest risk is trying to base online policies solely on real life ethical and professional standards. It is important to examine the personal uses of social media within the professional ones in order to create guidelines for use (Gagnon and Sabus 409-410). The last piece is ensuring that the boundaries are set to allow for free speech (Meloy 17).

When considering how to act as an individual in a professional setting, look at each area to which you must adhere. The first area is the terms of services for the social media application that is used. The next area is the standards for the field of work. For example, individuals in the medical field should adhere to the guidelines set by the American Medical Association (AMA). After that look at the social media policy for the organization, it is likely to be located in the code of conduct or employee manual. Lastly, look at individual practices. It is important to find the right presence. In Soumitra Dutta's article, "Managing Yourself: What's Your Personal Social Media Strategy?" she attempts to define four types of presence: personal and private (family and friends), professional and private (work colleagues), personal and public (society), and professional and public (professional peers). There are three questions that one should ask to determine their presence: are their goals personal, professional or both; who is their audience (i.e. family, colleagues, or the world); and what are their resources (i.e. time, money, etc.)? Since the line between real life and virtual so blurred, a safe rule is to not post anything one would not say to a client or judge (Tolek and Kelsey).

Social media should be interchangeable between personal and professional. It has become an important tool that has assisted in reconnecting friends, market businesses, and creates individuals. While it does come with its positive and negative aspects, the effects have been moderately positive. The rapid change that technology undergoes ensures that organizational policy will not always be up to date, although; by maintaining our own individual practices for social media, it is easier to manage what should and should not be shared online.

