One of the advantages of being a corporate digital marketer by trade is that it provides license, if not a mandate, to spend time on places like Facebook and Twitter during the day. (The rest of you have to pretend you are working). Yet as the lines between brands and the individuals behind them are blurring like never before, so have the lines between our business and personal personas blurred like never before.

In mass social networking environments (unlike say, a more specific affinity network like the one we have right here), our “friends” are invariably now a composite of true friends and acquaintances. Close colleagues and distant ones. Bosses and underlings. Clients and vendors. Yet when we update a status, tweet, or post to a blog, we are talking to all of them.

I contemplate this often with a view toward my corporate work. And I contemplate this first and foremost through the individual prism of my own split personas: as a corporate executive… as the voice of Executive Moms… and as simply, Marisa Thalberg. A modern day “Three Faces of Eve,” I suppose. But as an active participant in the social media space as well as an observer, and critic, of behavior in this ever-expanding playground, I constantly reflect on how the people I know (or have come to feel like I know) are continually building, shaping, reshaping and sometimes diminishing their own personal brands.

Brandividual. That’s you. And as “executive moms” I would venture to say we require that much more sensitivity and responsibility toward how we present our brands — our selves — in this strangely intimate yet highly public sphere.

I really believe that for women like us, if not for all of us, there is an art to savvy participation and it is this: striking a balance between honest, authentic sharing, and judicious, mannered, clever commentary. Wit works too (raunchy humor does not). Share — just don’t overshare. A few more more sisterly suggestions in this regard:

– Pass each prospective post through this test: “how will I feel if the CEO of my company reads it?”

– It’s appropriate to create a mix of personal updates, ideally blended with observations about the news, culture and industry. However, spare your social graph from hourly posts about the kids’ activities, which have a target audience about as wide as their grandparents… and do not do much to drive your executive persona.

– While the formality of business writing is not necessary, or even desirable, in these contexts, still: use reasonable grammar. And — darn it– don’t swear.

Just as we judge a new friend on appearance, in the world of digital, our words are often that first and lingering appearance. We all want to keep good company.

Incidentally, judging by the quality of the profiles and posts on ExecutiveMoms.com, we are keeping really good company, right here.