It’s the time of year when you start buying random bins and caddies in a Pinterest-driven attempt to organize and clean out your closets once and for all, but if you are in the market for a job, you should redirect your decluttering agenda to your social media accounts. If you are applying for jobs, know that every application you submit is an invitation for someone to socially stalk you for more information.
More information you may be frankly embarrassed to have a potential employer see. To help you on your quest we have put together a four-step, 30 minute social media decluttering challenge that will have you on your way to an embarrassment-free profile in no time!
We will start with Twitter because no one ever starts with Twitter.
Step 1
Decide whether or not you can deprive the masses of the glory that is your Twitter by making it private. If you choose to go private, go to your account settings and choose “Security and privacy” on the left hand side of your screen. Scroll down to “Privacy” options and check “Protect my Tweets” to make your Twitter and all of your tweets will now be private.
If you can’t take your profile away from the world, start a strong game of keep and toss. If it’s political, toss. If it paints a good, positive picture of your values, keep. If it’s rude, racist, or plain stupid, toss. Don’t be afraid of the “delete” button, you can find it in the “More” section (a.k.a. those three little dots).
Step 2
Double check ALL of your grammar. It makes you look unqualified, unprofessional, and it’s aggravating. The first thing that will come to a perspective employer’s mind when reading a badly written tweet is how your work emails might look similar.
Step 3
You can remove Twitter’s ability to include your location with tweets by follow the previous instructions all the way through until you scroll down to the “Privacy” options and you would uncheck “Add a location to my Tweets,” if that is activated.
Step 4
Review all your Twitter data by clicking on the aptly named “Your Twitter data” option on the left hand side of your screen. Here you can edit your Username, the email and the phone number associated with your account. It has a log of your login history as well as a downloadable version of your entire Tweet history at the bottom of the page, under “Other data.” This is also where you manage the other apps that have access to your Twitter account.
While cleaning up your Twitter might not be as fun as creating rainbow-colored labels for your newly organized pantry, it may help get you a job at some point so it doesn’t hurt to spend 30 minutes cleaning house on Twitter as well as your other social media profiles.
Stay tuned for part two of the 30 Minute Social Media Declutter Challenge featuring Facebook!