Facebook’s “Professional Mode” is a feature that allows users to separate their personal profile from a professional profile used for work. When Professional Mode is enabled, co-workers, clients, and recruiters see a different profile than friends and family.
This keeps personal content private while still allowing professional connections. Turning on Professional Mode can be beneficial in many cases, but there are also some potential downsides to consider. Here is an in-depth look at the pros and cons of using Facebook’s Professional Mode.
Pros of Enabling Professional Mode
Here are some of the potential benefits of turning on Facebook’s Professional Mode:
Keeps Personal and Professional Separate
The main advantage of Professional Mode is that it allows you to keep your personal life private from your professional connections. Things you share with close friends and family won’t be visible to co-workers or potential employers when looking at your profile.
This prevents any unprofessional or inappropriate content from being associated with your professional brand. It also means you don’t have to self-censor personal updates out of fear that a boss or client may see them.
Presents a More Professional Image
With Professional Mode on, the profile that colleagues and recruiters see will only contain professional content – work history, skills, recommendations etc. This allows you to put your best foot forward and present a polished, career-focused image.
Your profile will appear more serious and business-oriented without distracting personal photos, updates, or interests getting in the way. This can help strengthen your personal brand and reputation.
Makes Networking Easier
Having separate profiles enables easier networking and relationship building. You can send connection requests to co-workers, clients, industry contacts etc without worrying about how much access you’re giving them to your personal life.
Professional Mode essentially creates a built-in professional network centered around your work persona. This makes career-focused social media engagement more straightforward.
Limits Distractions and Clutter
Seeing lots of personal updates from friends and family while trying to use Facebook professionally can be distracting and clutter up your newsfeed. Keeping that content separate cleans things up and allows you to focus when using Facebook for business purposes.
Your professional profile will stay centered around useful industry news, career contacts, and work-related content instead of random personal posts.
Cons of Enabling Professional Mode
However, there are also some potential downsides of enabling Professional Mode to consider:
Requires Extra Maintenance
Maintaining two separate profiles means having to put in extra time and effort. You’ll need to be careful about posting content to the right profile and keeping both up-to-date. It takes vigilance to prevent personal and professional content from getting mixed together.
If you prefer the ease and convenience of a single profile, a dual-profile setup may feel like an unwelcome hassle.
Can Be Confusing
Navigating between two different profiles could cause confusion, especially at first. Accidentally posting personal content publicly or professional content to just friends is a risk. Comments and messages intended for certain connections may also end up on the wrong profile.
Extra care is required to avoid mix-ups until you get used to switching between accounts.
Limits Visibility
While increased privacy is a benefit, limiting what professional connections see also has downsides. Talent recruiters may appreciate seeing some personal background and interests to get a better feel for who you are.
Excluding personal content entirely makes your professional persona more one-dimensional. Some may prefer allowing professional ties a small window into their personal life.
Reduces Cross-Promotion Opportunities
With separate profiles, it becomes harder to leverage your personal friends and family to help support your professional endeavors. You lose the ability to easily share professional updates, accomplishments or work projects with your broader network.
Cross-promotion between personal and professional networks is limited if they never see each other’s content.
Tips for Using Professional Mode Effectively
If you do opt to turn on Professional Mode, here are some tips to use it effectively:
Customize Settings
Take the time to thoroughly customize your professional profile. Add a profile/cover photo, fill out all sections, and spotlight important details you want visible. Also adjust the audience selector when posting to choose exactly who sees what content.
Create a Distinct Brand
Make your professional persona clearly distinct from your personal one. Use a variation for your name, different profile/cover images, and unique content tailored to each audience.
Share Some Personal Interests
While keeping most personal content separate, share a few personal tidbits, background info and interests on your professional profile to seem human and relatable. Just avoid anything too private, controversial or unprofessional.
Cross-Promote Carefully
Occasionally cross-promote professional achievements or big news updates by sharing them personally. Just avoid flooding your personal profile with too much professional content.
Link Between Profiles
Add your professional profile URL to your personal bio section so people can request access if they want to connect professionally. Link to your personal page from your professional page as well.
Who Should Use Professional Mode?
While Professional Mode can be useful, it isn’t necessary for every user. Here is what type of users will benefit most from enabling it:
Active Career Networkers
Those actively using Facebook to network for career opportunities and contacts will gain a lot of value from separating their professional presence. Recruiters are more likely to connect with a profile that presents your best professional image.
Users with Public Roles
People with public personas like politicians, actors, journalists etc need to be cautious about their image. For them, limiting visibility of personal content by turning on Professional Mode can be crucial.
Employees of Companies
Workers who are connected with supervisors, colleagues and clients on Facebook may want to utilize Professional Mode to keep their personal lives private from their employer.
Freelancers and Business Owners
Those who use Facebook to promote their freelance services or business will benefit from having a separate professional profile focused on showcasing their work and expertise.
Who Might Not Need Professional Mode?
Here are some instances where using Professional Mode may be unnecessary:
People With Small Friend/Follower Lists
If you have a relatively small friends list of just close connections, limiting visibility may not be that important. You likely don’t need to hide content from many professional ties.
Users Who Avoid Politics/Religion
If you don’t post about controversial political, religious or social issues, your personal content may not need such strict privacy controls. Non-divisive personal updates are less likely to harm your career.
Job Seekers Relying on Connections
People using Facebook friends and family to help find job opportunities may want them to see professional requests and posts. Hiding that content could limit their ability to support your career efforts.
Retirees
For those no longer working or looking for jobs, maintaining a separate professional persona is less crucial. Your profile can focus solely on personal connections and interests.
The Verdict on Professional Mode
A Valuable Option for Many Users
For most working professionals, separating personal and professional presences on Facebook has clear benefits and few downsides beyond a little extra work maintaining both profiles.
The privacy, branding and networking advantages tend to outweigh the relatively minor inconveniences. It ultimately comes down to your comfort level with mixing personal and professional vs keeping them totally separate.
Evaluate Your Specific Needs
Rather than universally recommending or discouraging the use of Professional Mode, it’s wise to evaluate your own specific situation. The right choice depends on your career trajectory, employer expectations, networking goals, size of friend/follower lists and comfort with mixing aspects of your work and personal life.
Consider the pros and cons as they relate to your own Facebook use to determine if enabling the feature will provide more benefit than hassle. While a valuable tool for many, Professional Mode isn’t inherently right or wrong for every user.