Twitter profile management

Post date: 2021-04-18 06:25:17

How do people manage their personal twitter profile and balance against having a job that is potentially public facing?

A lot of people I see on Twitter (especially academics, Comms professionals, politicos, etc) use their full name and job title in their twitter bio.

But I see them tweeting a lot of spicy things, hot takes, random verbal diarrhea, radical political opinions, extreme snark. I don't understand how this works - why do they not fear reprisal from their employers? Why are they okay with being publicly associated with really bad ideas and just plain nonsense and stupidity?

I used to have my full name on my Twitter profile, along with my job title, because I was the social media manager for an account for the non profit that I did comms for. But I recently moved to the public service, and now I'm not sure what to do with my account. On one hand, ''followers'' know who I am and my career, and it's allowed me to make some connections and get job interviews. On the other hand, I haven't kept my posts strictly professional. I like to sometimes tweet random thoughts of whimsy or about topics I'm passionate about.

Would it be weird to completely remove any identifying factors from my Twitter so that going forward no one can tell who it is (I see a lot of accounts like that). Or should I just keep my full name there, and create a new account for whimsical thoughts and the occasional hot take?

I find Twitter is a bit of a creative outlet for me since I'm a word nerd, and I like the game of crafting concise ideas into 280 tweets. But I'm struggling to understand how and why people use it for professional purposes, when it seems so risky and potentially career-ruining.

Any insights are much appreciated.

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