Personal space, Instagram and Antoinettes

We are leaving at different times. Social media had changed everything, the way we connect, the way we buy, sell, make friends, discover things. We can share meals with people without leaving our house and go on vacation without taking a plane. I think I can navigate the island of Bali without a map. I know the best yoga studios, the best restaurants, I know where the cheapest motorbike rental ( I have never visited Bali). Instagram made it happened. We are constantly part of this wonderful life full of interesting places, smiling people. No one pushes out boring content: I just woke up, the weather is horrible and I am late for work:). Maldives, restaurants, great food! There is a lot of sociological researches on this subject: How watching endless joy is affecting our life, our mental health? How does this affecting our job, our relationship at work? A few days ago I bumped into young women who many years ago worked for me in sales. Now she works for a big luxury store in a West Cost. To my usual question "how is a business?" I got the usual answer: " no traffic, clients shop online, what we have in a store is not what clients are looking for". Traditionally, when business is challenging salespeople to blame buyers, nothing new here. But I felt that now in the age of "immediate communication" WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc., it's super easy to create synergy between buying and selling part of the business ( it's very important now when the competition is high, clients have million new ways to shop and everyone who is in retail needs to be super focused to survive). She smiled, pulled out her Instagram account and show me the picture of companies buying team in a big, expensive Milan restaurant having a lavishing meal. " They have no idea what we are doing here, they eat cake". 

This is an Instagram - perfect life. The job of the buyers in reality: long hours, multiple appointments daily, writing orders until 2 am in a hotel room... But no one sees it no one posts this and salespeople who follow those people think that their life is one sparkling Eiffel Tower. 

My question is: what position a company should take on postings? This is buyers' personal accounts and people would argue, that anything and everything can be posted during off time. 

A friend of mine who works for a big Italian brand told me that his company prohibits hashtags of the company name. But if a person follows you on Instagram it's very easy to figure out what you do. "Happy posting" can make people who are not able to experience the same, jealous and angry. Does this matter? At work?