I want to resign but I feel trapped! Terminating your contract with a social media platform
We all have different reasons for wanting to close down a social media profile. They might be personal, professional, ethical, or simply because a platform has fallen out of fashion. In our increasingly digitally connected working lives, it is reasonable to be worried about the work-related connections you might lose when you shut down a career-orientated social media account.
A social media platform may have been invaluable previously. It perhaps helped you cultivate employment-relevant connections, collaborations and networks. It may be where you found opportunities or learnt about ideas, news and topics that matter to you. You might fear disadvantaging yourself somehow if you leave and see starting afresh elsewhere as an uphill journey into the unknown. Metaphorically, your commitment to the platform is akin to being in a job you want to move on from but are struggling to leave.
Thinking about handing in your notice?
The principles I discuss here apply to any social media site
you no longer wish to have a presence on and are considering terminating your
contract with. I am not writing here for an audience of brand managers or
context experts, but for the layperson who wants to make the best of their time
online in relation to their career aspirations.
If you are reading this, you are probably already thinking
about closing down an account, have one that is semi-dormant/deactivated, or
have a nagging sense that the day might soon come for its deletion. However, on
that social media account you are following hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
other accounts (and many of those follows are likely reciprocated).
You worry you might lose an important connection or bypass
future opportunities if you leave. But you aren’t in the position to employ a
social media brand manager and contract out the task of retaining and moving
over all of your contacts. So, your only option is to go through them all and
check each and every account. Bothersome and tedious are two words that spring
to mind.
Putting the work in
Well, I did it, because I am fearless when facing bother and
tedium. I went through the 1,000+ accounts I followed on a social media
platform. I am not going to suggest any quick fixes or recommend a paid for
service for doing the same. I am not here to advertise some software I have
invented to semi-automate the task of tracking down everyone you have an online
relationship with and directing you to where else they might be online (and it
feels ethically dubious even suggesting that could be a thing - Is it? I
hope not.).
It was a laborious and time-consuming task but for me it was
several hours well spent. Taking a full inventory was an interesting and at
times cathartic experience.
Ghosts of times past
What did I find? Overall, so many defunct accounts.
Still there, but inanimate (and who knows what was there but had already
vanished, given the findings of this recent report
by the Pew Research Centre). I need not have worried about losing contact with
those then, eh?
For me, trends in the dormant accounts I found included:
- Completed
research projects into childcare and women’s work from which none of the
problems highlighted have been resolved or the solutions offered have been
implemented (demoralising)
- Lots
of one-off events with their own account profile, evidently a big thing
about 10 years ago (a reminder of how swiftly “interactive tech”
approaches move on)
There were blocks of accounts I had followed that had been
important in my life and work at the time, and a retrospective on this was
grounding. As any good careers adviser will tell you, it is always worth
reflecting on where you are and where you have been when you are transitioning
to where you may find yourself next.
Friends reunited
Focusing on the useful and positive, I found a number of
people I didn’t realise I hadn’t connected to on here (LinkedIn) and other
platforms, so thanks to you all for accepting my connection requests and it is
good to see you again. You can find out more about what I am doing these days
via my LinkTree.
You don't always get what you want
Are you relying on a sporadic log in to a social media
account as a source of useful work-related content? Are you scrolling but
seeing the same content? Your unwavering commitment to a platform may be giving
you a false sense of security.
The process of going through every account I followed was a
reminder of how the social media content we get isn't always the content we
need. I rediscovered accounts and posts that were significant to me, that I had
not had sight of for some time. It is easy to become reliant on recommended
content and lose access to what is useful and meaningful to you, due to social
media algorithms.
There are endless resources to enable social media managers
to ensure their clients' content reaches you. If you are interested in
optimising your social media reach, an abundance of easily accessible guides
detail techniques you might want to employ to promote your own social media
presence. However, there are few tutorials for the casual end user that explain
the tools you can implement to prioritise the content reaching you. I am not
going to link to any of these guides here, because they will be out of date
within a fortnight.
In short: unless you are actively engaging multiple times a
day with the kind of content you want to see more of (responding with likes,
comments, reposting/sharing) and curating what reaches you
(agreeing/disagreeing/asking for more/hiding posts when asked whether you like
what you see) then you are probably already missing out. Even if you decide you
do not want to hand in your notice with a social media platform just yet, some
general housekeeping and adopting the mindset of actively curating the content
you see on their in relation to your work and career intentions will be
beneficial.
Making the leap
Are you ready to exit your contract with a social media
platform? I have some suggestions to perhaps make the process a bit easier if
you are thinking of closing down a work-relevant online profile.
In your notice period: If you still have contacts on
a social media account who are active and might not realise you are soon to
leave (perhaps they are themselves seemingly dormant, lurking and unsure of
what to do about the whole situation of moving on) then let them know in a
short, pinned post that you are leaving and where you will be. I did this a few
times, and it resulted in new follows I could reciprocate/connection requests
on other platforms.
Emeritus status: Want to retain a live profile just
in case? Make sure you have somewhere listed as an active onward destination.
If you used the platform for professional reasons, you could redirect followers
to your LinkedIn
page, your company website
or a LinkTree. If you've decided
that you need a social media break for a while, can you do a good deed and
select something else meaningful, maybe a redirect to a cause or charity you support?
Branching out: If you decide to go for the full
catalogue review, then working on a large screen or screens, with multiple
windows open is helpful. You may want to connect with an
individual/organisation in an alternative capacity, on a differently orientated
social media platform and/or in more than one place (and as per my previous
point, it is helpful if you are given directions to where they want to be
found).
Moving on before your time
Poignantly, it was inevitable that I found accounts that
belonged to friends and other contacts who have passed away. It was a reminder
to think about who can access our digital footprint, how and when. I recommend
everyone takes a moment to look at these useful articles and plan for what
happens to your digital presence when you are no longer with us:
PC Mag: How to Prepare Your Digital Life for Your Death https://uk.pcmag.com/security/147526/how-to-prepare-your-digital-life-for-your-death
Money Saving Expert: How to prepare your digital life for when you die https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2022/03/how-to-prepare-your-digital-life-for-when-you-die/
Social media as a career development tool
There is no doubt that social media can be an excellent tool
in relation to developing your career.* In the same way that we move on from
roles that no longer bring job satisfaction, your membership of any social
media platform you use for career purposes may need to evolve. If you have
outgrown a platform but are clinging onto it out of nostalgia, misplaced
loyalty or fear, then be confident to take action. You might have to put in a
decent shift to get things sorted, but it will be worth it.
*For free to access career tools, please look at my
self-directed resources for career guidance available here: https://www.emmabolger.co.uk/p/careers-resources.html
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for posting a comment. I moderate comments to avoid spam so there may be a delay in your comment appearing.