There's No Such Thing as a Private Post

Michael Davey

Sep 30

4 min read

Most social media mistakes business owners make don't start on the business page. They start on a personal account, with a post that was only meant for friends and family.

I'm Michael, founder of Pivot Reputation Management. I help Canadian business owners protect what people find when they look them up online. A story in the news this month shows exactly how fast a personal post can become a business problem.

A CEO took a photo with her family before a trip to Halifax. She ran it through ChatGPT so everyone appeared to be wearing "Lake America" sweatshirts, and she says she posted it to her private Facebook page with an AI label. Less than two weeks later, the credit union she ran announced she was no longer an employee.

What happened

Here's what CBC News reported.

Jane Smith was the CEO of Family First Credit Union in Saginaw, Michigan. On Sept. 11, a photo was posted to Facebook showing her and three family members on their way to Halifax, appearing to wear "Lake America" sweatshirts.

The timing mattered. A few weeks earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump had signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," in the middle of a trade war. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canadians will keep calling it Lake Ontario.

The post carried a caption: "Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will."

Smith told ABC12, a Michigan TV station, that the image was AI-generated and meant as a joke. She said the family never had the sweatshirts and never wore them. She said she posted the photo to her private Facebook page with an AI label. According to Smith, her sister then reposted it publicly, added the comment, and left the AI warning off.

By Sept. 13, the photo was circulating on Instagram through an account called Breaking News Canada. The Facebook post has since been deleted.

On Sept. 23, the credit union posted a statement saying Smith was no longer an employee, effective immediately. Its chief operations officer is now serving as interim CEO.

The statement doesn't say why she left, or whether it was her decision. The board told CBC News it is legally prohibited from discussing the circumstances.

The credit union also posted an apology to its members and community on its Facebook page.

Why this matters to you

Set the politics aside for a minute. Look at how this moved.

A private post. An AI label. A family member with a share button.

That's all it took.

Smith says she posted privately. Once someone else shared it, she no longer controlled where it went, who saw it, or what label it carried. The context stayed behind. The screenshot travelled.

Now look at who ended up apologizing. Not just Smith. The credit union. A financial institution had to answer to its members for a family vacation photo.

If you own a business, especially a small one, this is the part to sit with.

You are your business. Your name and your company sit side by side in search results. When people get upset with you, they don't stop at your personal profile. They find your Google Business Profile (the listing that shows your hours, photos and reviews when someone searches you), your company Facebook page, and your review sites.

In reputation work, that's the pattern I see over and over. The post is personal. The damage is not.

There's no personal account. There's just you, and everyone who can hit share.

What to do about it

Use the billboard test. Before you post anything, ask yourself: would I be fine seeing this on a billboard with my business name under it? If the answer is no, don't post it.
Treat "private" as public. Friends-only settings don't stop screenshots. Assume anything you post can be copied and shared by someone you trust, without your label or your explanation.
Talk to your family and your staff. The people closest to you can share your posts, and post about you. Have a short, friendly conversation about what's fair game when it involves you or the business.
Leave jokes about your customers out of it. A joke about the people or places you sell to can land fine with friends and badly with everyone else. You don't get to choose which audience sees it.
Decide who speaks before you need to. Pick one person who responds for the business, and where. A short, clear statement on your own channels beats a scramble across five platforms.
Know what people find when they search you. Search your own name and your business name this week. If something goes sideways, you'll know what's already there and how fast things are moving.