My partners and I have looked forward to blogging as a means of regular communication with you for some time, but as with a lot of things, life got in the way of our progress.

But no more, thanks to a diligent partner and an efficient web site designer the new site and blog became a reality. So thanks to Sally who wanted the web site changes and Rich who implemented them.

And, I am grateful it has fallen to me, to put up the first Career Partner blog. I am an official blogger, not to be confused with Blago, please.

Since we are about careers, that’s what the blog will be about. Careers, work, jobs, trends, observations, and about anything else we think may appeal to our readers or maybe not. Sometimes the blog will be about something you may not want to read about.

Like today……..I want to talk about social networking on the Internet. I do it, you do it, almost everybody does it.

I suppose nearly every company has discovered this issue as part of the workplace today. Most people network at work, whether that in itself is right or wrong is not the issue here. Let’s just assume you network at work.

Be careful.

Not only are you walking on very thin ice within your company should you say something less than flattering about the company, your boss, etc…you could be fired. It is as simple as that. Social networking is addressed in most large corporate employee handbooks now. Make sure you know your company’s policy. But here is something you may not know.

Prospective employers now do searches on job candidates. So, you not only have to think about your current employer, but also consider your future jobs. If you post silly or inappropriate pictures or make silly or inappropriate comments, they will come back to haunt when you are in a job search. My favorite recruiter tells me, he always does searches on his job candidates. Why? Because he knows if he doesn’t, the client he is recruiting for will. As a good recruiter, he wants to serve his client well, so he does what he knows the customer would want. And the client will probably do his own search anyway.

This is double jeopardy for the job seeker.

Say something rude, racist, sexist, suggestive or politically incorrect, well you are in for it, even in a joking way, even you’re talking to your best friend who says something equally inappropriate back. Doesn’t matter. Even if it is not about work, but about your kids, doesn’t matter.

What matters here is saying the wrong thing speaks to your general judgment in things like this, if you do it in your personal life, what could or would you do in business? Hmmmmmm.

So, next time you tweet or poke somebody on Face book, think about what your mother told you when you were a little kid, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

As I write this, I am thinking what I have said is generational. The younger you are, the freer you are with your comments. The older you are, the more you become your own censor.

We discuss social networking in greater detail in our book, A Taste for Work available now on Amazon.