As a passionate social media practitioner, I would be remiss if I hadn’t already given lots of thought to my child’s social media presence. Will I grab up a Twitter handle for him now? Will he tweet from the womb? As a baby? What photos will I post on Facebook? Will he have his own private page and persona?
If his behavior during ultrasounds is any indication of his future self, he will be born as a grumpy old man, refusing to turn where the doctor can best see him and scowling when you shove soundwaves into his face. Hard to predict a personal brand for a baby, and I’m not sure he’ll even be interested in it when he’s old enough to update his own status, which won’t be for many years. NJS and I have developed social media policies for him, then, since we’re the parents and we say so.
He won’t have his own Twitter handle.
I barely have time to keep up with my personal one and the one I manage for work, let alone a third on the baby’s behalf.
No ultrasound photos on Facebook.
As he gets bigger he looks more like a person and less like a kidney bean, but it’s a little more information about my insides than I’d like to share.
I will never have a profile photo of just the baby.
When he’s old enough to have a presence, he will have his own presence. Save for joke profile photos, I’ve never featured a photo of just someone else as my own profile photo, and I won’t start now no matter how damned cute he is.
Keep in mind that these social media policies are what’s best for our family. They may not be the best for yours, and they in no way should cast any positive or negative judgements on how anyone else chooses to use social media in their families.
It’s always exciting to anticipate what the future holds for social media. Pretty cool to consider what role it will play in my kid’s life, and vice versa.
Do you have a family social media policy? How did you come up with yours?