Evetts (2012) directly addresses the changing dimensions of “professionalisation”, in particular the increasing importance of being perceived as a “professional” in order to convey authority, knowledge, and validity. She argues persuasively that professionalism has moved from a term describing particular hierarchical and authoritative roles (doctors, lawyers, etc.) attracting social as well as professional status, towards a form of marketing or performance where previous meanings of the term stand in as a form of brand image for those now defining themselves as “professionals”.
This performative aspect, which can be a source of significant anxiety (e.g. Ball 2003), is particularly interesting in the context of social media where authority is as likely to be established through actions and contribution as by markers retained from the real world (name, role, institutional affiliation, etc.). Performing poorly in these contexts can risk loss of face or reputation but successful “professional” performances may lead to rewards such as, for freelancers, offers of paid work.
The potential for damage to professional (or personal) reputation are areas of growing interest. Blurrings of personal and professional lives through social media spaces (as observed in Zhao and Rosson’s (2009) work on Twitter in the workplace) is leading to changed business practices with significant implications for the virtual footprint of informal social media exchanges. Articles such as “Could you survive a social media background check” (Luckiewicz 2011) reflect growing awareness of employer interest in employee (and prospective employee) social media activity, whether work-related or not. Sites like Reputation.com (Reputation.com 2012) have created a new service industry around maintaining online reputation.
Iris: [interactions in social media] are quite mediated. They can be instantaneous but also because they are written generally feel a bit more rehearsed - like the person had time to craft their remarks carefully.
Social media policies and guidelines, often designed to protect corporate reputation and limit liability, are in increasing use in the professional workplace with examples including IBM (IBM 2005, 2008, 2010), the BBC (BBC 2010 and 2012b), the University of Essex (University of Essex 2012) and EDINA (Osborne 2011a). McRoberts’ (2011) commentary on the BBC Guidelines provides an employee perspective on how formal attempts to protect reputation and trust fit with the realities of personal social media practice. McRoberts argues that “…you expect your employees to behave like responsible adults…” (McRoberts 2011), implying that employees in professional environments are well aware of the importance of performing competently and appropriately. However, high profile social media news stories, particularly around personal use of social media and employment law, reflect that appropriate employee behaviour cannot always be assumed (see BBC News 2009, The Week 2012, Pilkington 2011, Silverman 2012 etc.).
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