Would Social Media Posts Impact Who You Do Business With?

Great question. I changed the title to make it broader.

Not just buying but partnering and hiring I think can and should be impacted. Is the answer to hide these things? Maybe it's better that it's out in the open so people can be warned.

Which is why I don’t share personal and professional (for the most part) and consider any post to be professional. 

I had to remove a friend because of similar outrageous posts regarding aliens and chem spraying. 

More information, in general, affects my judgement.  At worst, it reinforces whatever conclusions I've already drawn or stereotypes I've applied.  Sometimes less is better for things like assumed knowledge or good judgement skills.

Social media is bad about overexposure.  Some folks do not understand there is a line they should not cross in a public, or semi-public platform.  Respecting your audience is an important skill and requires self-awareness.

Ever worked with someone who swears professional wrestling isn't fake?  

I have more trouble with the people who don't tell me about their flat earth conspiracies. I prefer to know exactly just how insane they truly are. ;)

The internet is forever, and context is everything.  I have some ideas that many people would consider wacky.  I'll talk to you about them in person, but I'm not going to throw them out on an uncontrolled medium.

Wait Jon,

You mean the earth ISNT flat??

So I don't believe that a social post in and of itself wouldn't stop me from doing business with someone however whether it be on LinkedIn or Facebook it is an opportunity to get to know them better. I will say, don't do social after you've had some truth serum (aka alcohol) since you tend to express how you really feel about something without a filter.  It's important for us, especially millennials and Generation Z's to know that whatever they post is documented...possibly forever.  Even if you erase a tweet, if someone screen captures it, it can may may be used against you.  

Clearly all of us have values and there's an ole adage of wanting to do business with friends (or individuals that you share values with) holds true.  For my group, as the leader in our business development efforts I will usually take a look at any information on social posts with a prospect to get to know that individual better.  For a prospective employee, we will definitely research that individual's social post behavior over time to get a better understanding on how they carry themself however I believe that's a common practice these days.

As Undisclosed #1 pointed out, our industry is extremely small. I always recommend the golden rule when engaging in social media, treat others the way you want to be treated and you should be ok!

Is there a way I can trust that person.... yes.  People can be led astray by what they read or who they talk to, but that doesn't make them liars (unless they say "the science is settled"). Most people lack critical thinking skills, or are just to lazy to fact check.  

If you found out a sales person believed that vaccines caused cancer/autism/etc, or was adamant that alien abductions were a risk to society

What a dope, everyone knows the tin foil hats keep the aliens from reading your brain and locating you. It's like jamming your internal GPS. As long as you have your hat, there's no risk.

Those vaccines are some serious stuff though.

I read all this on the internet so I know it's true...