Putting a Name to a Face

Yvonne Battle-Felton

May 31, 2010

Between company websites, blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebooks, there is a massive effort to make business more personal.

Strategies, plans, analysis, data…there’s a lot to be said for the benefits of creating an online presence; adapting an online persona: putting a face to your business name.

When I look for a contractor, I look for reviews: information on their work. I don’t look for their relationship status, party pictures, or Farmville situation.

Whether I’m changing banks, car insurance, or super markets, I look for the reputation of the company, rarely of the employees.

But that’s changing, not because I want it to but because it has to.

Politics, perspectives, personal issues…

At any given point, I’m about two clicks away from too much information about employees and what they do when they aren’t representing their companies.

I like my business relationships to remain, well, business. I expect professionalism, ethics, honesty, respect, quality and service.

I don’t need to know about complicated relationships, high school flings, political preferences or social causes.

And when I do, I find they get in the way.

Knowing too much about a business—mainly about the people who make up that business—gives me more information I have to use to weigh my decision on how much business—if any—we do with one another.

If a basic company search turns up more personal information than it does professional information, it may be time to untangle the web of social networking and business networking.

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