When it comes to social media, there are apparently three types of people in the world. One kind separates the social media into strict business vs. personal categories. The second kind of person makes strategic decisions about which way to use any given social medium. The third kind tries to blend the personal and professional.

As a representative of the first type, I have made a strict separation between LinkedIn, for professional contacts, and Facebook, for personal friends. You won't find anything inappropriate on my Facebook page -- no Internet application is truly "private," after all. What you would find is a relatively small group of friends who are like-minded on social, political and cultural issues, who engage in free-spirited and energetic conversations.

On LinkedIn, I'll keep tabs on as many current, past and prospective business colleagues as possible. When a business colleague sends an invitation to "Friend" on Facebook, I generally reply, "How about connecting over on LinkedIn, instead?" Similarly, only a couple of my Facebook friends -- people with whom I also have a business relationship -- are also LinkedIn colleagues.

For me, that's a simple, comfortable approach.

Mary Pokluda, owner of Bumblebee Personal Assistants, takes stance that's 180 degrees different. She began with a personal Facebook page and a separate "Page" for her business. "I realized I was missing the boat," she said. "In order to get people to my business Page, they have to connect with me personally, unless they stumble across it."

As a result, she has turned her personal Facebook page into a professional profile. "I talk about business and what I'm doing as a personal assistant. I sprinkle in personal things here and there." For example, "if people love horses, the next time we meet, we can talk about that. It solidifies the relationship. We have common ground."

Pokluda made her decision based in part on the target audience for her services. "Small business owners are on Facebook. They may be listed on LinkedIn, but they aren't spending time there. LinkedIn is 100 percent professional, 100 percent of the time. In what I do, first it's the connection, then it's business."

Pokluda's decision has led her to "unfriend" people -- even relatives -- who were sharing information she deemed inappropriate. "Some people don't even realize they've been unfriended," she said. "Some do, and their feelings are hurt. I explain that my page is for business purposes, and they get it.

She does use the birthday calendar, so she can send greetings to people. She uses Branch Out, which she describes as "LinkedIn for Facebook" (www.facebook.com/branchout). She's added the Constant Contact application to enable people to sign up for her newsletter via Facebook. SmartSync for iPhone keeps her contacts up to date with the latest profile picture and information.

A third option is to use Facebook settings to split your contacts into separate lists, then adjust your privacy settings so that professional contacts get access to different types and levels of content from your page.