Feeling Exposed: Can PR Pros, Social Media and Privacy Co-exist?

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You and I – the communications professionals – are the low hanging fruit for identity theives.

Think about it. Aside from the people that actually work at Twitter, Facebook and the like, we are probably one of the juiciest and most vulnerable demographics for the scammers. They know  that we get paid to tinker with all these upstart social media sites. We’ve left a graveyard of user names and passwords and other personal information on social sites that we haven’t visited in months or even know if they still exist. Where does that information go when those sites get bought or die?

I thought of this as I was reading this Steve Lohr story in the NY Times on about how easy it is for the bad guys of the world to deduce all kinds of things about us by piecing together the tapestry of tidbits we’ve hidden – sometimes not all that well – on social sites. It’s like a digital Easter egg hunt for identity thieves.

It’s not a new theme of course, but it occurred to me that as a PR guy, I have very little choice in the matter – it’s my job to be on these sites. We have to at least sample a little of everything so we can advise clients from first-hand experience, right? And so we put our personal identity at risk, time and again.

Does this worry anyone?

And the thing is that we’re starting to get complacent about it, or at least I am. Oh sure, I have my informal safety rules of engagement. But slowly, without me even realizing it, I’ve let my guard down as I become more comfortable with letting it all hang out there without consequences….at least so far.

Case in point: two years to the day on my personal blog (no, I’m not linking to it here), I wrote this: “Not sure I get the whole Twitter thing. Do people care what I’m doing and thinking every moment as it happens?” Just a few months later, I flipped on my own Twitter account and, as an experiment, ended up tweeting blow-by-blow events of my daughter’s birth.

As I write this, I’m debating whether or not to sign up for the suddenly ubiquitous Foursquare application. I’ve resisted to date, but I kind of feel like I need to try it. And yet I find it incredibly invasive to my privacy. I can’t say I’m particularly motivated to be the “mayor” of my local Dunkin Donuts. But I have to try it out so I know what I’m talking about, right?

How do you set limits on what you will and won’t try in social media? Do you feel like you are compromising your privacy for the sake of your career? We all need a social media profile as professional communicators after all. But where’s your limit? Clearly, I’m still trying to find mine as I keep moving the line.