Being online can be a bittersweet experience. As a mom of teenagers and a business person who uses Social Media to keep on top of pop culture, check what my kids are being exposed to or to communicate with industry colleagues, I often see many things that are both inspiring and unnerving. <\/p>\n
The unnerving would involve what I call “cringe”. Random, laissez faire, off the cuff posts\/comments that posters or commenters make without a thought toward audience. Inflammatory comments or posts that you know are going to poke the bear. The really terrible ones don’t happen that often but when they do, you can hear a pin drop…for about 2 minutes. During that two minutes you can almost see viewers deciding to participate in the crazy back and forth or to simply sit back and watch.<\/p>\n
I witnessed a post that had to do with a contentious political candidate that was not well liked and a button pusher. His platform was alienating and a “friend” on a particular Social Media platform decided to cheerfully display their support for this candidate by posting a happy picture of themselves wearing a slogan cap and adding a cute comment about how good the hat looked. Needless to say, I believe the back and forth comments ended at about the 87 mark. The poster held their own and stood by their post (which is the key when you click “post”) but who knows what that poster felt behind closed doors and offline. <\/p>\n
My personal philosophy for Social Media is simple. Its the same thing I tell my kids about posting online or texting. Keep the emotion out of it and use your manners. You wouldn’t bring up contentious money or political issues at a dinner party, so keep Social Media social. Stay friendly and if you want a real conversation, do it face to face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being online can be a bittersweet experience. As a mom of teenagers and a business person who uses Social Media to keep on top of pop culture, check what my kids are being exposed to or to communicate with industry colleagues, I often see many things that are both inspiring and unnerving. The unnerving would … <\/p>\n