From Marketwatch by Andrea Coombes – October 26, 2007
The rise of social-networking brings the convergence of your personal life with your work life online.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or an electrician, an executive or an assistant, if you want to post a profile and “friend” people online, heed the tips below to ensure your online reputation doesn’t hinder your offline life.

1. Look for tools that allow you to restrict access to your profile. If you use MySpace, set your profile to private as well as all or a portion of your photos. On Facebook, the “limited profile” function lets you essentially create a profile that’s less personal for certain friends while maintaining a more in-depth profile for others.

2. Limit the degree to which you associate your online profile with your work. While it makes sense to network online, if you start entering forums and conversations on diverse, more personal topics, consider whether your company name will be associated with your name.

3. Don’t alert people that you are leaving town.

4. Be careful about “whom” you accept as a friend.

5. Think twice about what you are posting.

6. Finally, adjust your privacy settings to ensure you don’t reveal all to everyone in your network.

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