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


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