Are you a social networking two-face?

We get this question all the time: “How do I separate personal activity from business activity on Facebook or Twitter?”

The bottom line? You don’t. Here’s why.

The lines between personal and business are inextricably linked. Who knows if that high school buddy you reconnected with on Facebook might be looking for a financial advisor? Sure, you wouldn’t lead every message to every long-lost friend with, “So, do you have life insurance?” but we constantly turn to friends in our “real” lives for referrals, and the same thing happens in social networking.

Facebook and LinkedIn don’t allow you to have two accounts, as part of their terms of service. Sorry, you can’t be “Genius FA” AND “Average Joe” on these sites. You don’t want your friends – or clients – having to “choose” which persona to follow, and, in any case, who has time to update two totally different accounts?

You would artificially limit your reach if you separate your two networks. If your “business” account only focused on business, you could miss out on potential opportunities to help your neighbors and old football buddies. Worse, your “business” account would only draw in the people who are either already in your industry or are already your clients. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s certainly more limiting.

Your personal side allows you to connect with your clients at a whole different level. Let’s face it; the more you know about your clients – and the more they know about you – the stronger your relationships become. While you may not want to call your clients every day to remind them of the services you provide, posting daily about your son’s game-winning pitch or your fun day on the lake reminds them you are there – and that you may share some common interests. When you intersperse fun pictures from your weekend with exciting new opportunities, it feels less like a sales pitch and more like another part of your personality.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from old high school buddies who now live nearby (I grew up in St. Louis), have kids the same ages as mine, or learned about a new movie or book I wanted to check out. At the same time, they’re hearing about Social Middleware from me. Keeping in touch and getting new business go hand in hand.

If you are looking for more information on this topic check out one of my previous posts, “Top social media myths in the financial industry” and hear what OnWallStreet has to say here.

And tell me what you think. Have you seen the lines of “personal” and “business” cross – in good ways – in your own social networks? How many times has a personal connection led to a business relationship?