Shot down in flames

Take my experience of last week when I commented on something in the news on Twitter relating to my industry. I proffered my own opinion and was immediately shot down in flames by a follower, and others who jumped on the bandwagon, not because my opinion was wrong, but because my opinion was at odds with theirs! This made me cross on so many different levels. Firstly it’s my opinion and there’s not a damned thing anyone else can do about it, but secondly it illustrated to me how far we have fallen in our blind need to be accepted by our peers.

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, but this occasion has made me rethink how we communicate and whether social media is helping us or hindering us. Originally designed to be a useful marketing channel, I am now questioning whether it’s possible to successfully convey your opinion, values, authenticity and personality using social media without causing offence, inciting others and/or just generally feeling guilty or inferior?

Have we become vacuous?

Of course I get the positives of social media, but in light of my recent experiences I have been studying the negatives. So whilst it’s great to connect and communicate with lots of people quickly both locally and globally and have a level playing field for business I wonder if it has also made us quite vacuous. But on the following points I think social media is a great big fail – so read, enjoy and remember you have been warned!

Bad things to come from social media:

• The rise of selfies  
• Useless rubbish (photos of what people will eat, are eating or have eaten)
• Bragging and showing off (updates on exotic holiday destinations with plethora of pictures)
• Self-pitying posts (with accompanying sad face emoji’s or ambiguous status updates)
• Objectionable status (disagreeing only because people want to be controversial)
• Information oversharing (mostly relationship rants)
• Political tirades (people who encourage conversations to devolve into personal attacks and negative judgments of each other’s characters
• Hiding behind anonymity (the people who like everything but never comment)
• All talk and no action (the people who encourage others to do things but never get involved themselves)
• Amplified ignorance (the people who take one inaccurate ideal and shamelessly shares it)

So my advice is be careful, considered and cautious. Social media is just one channel of marketing, not the be all and end all. Used correctly, and as part of a coordinated strategy, it can help with your marketing efforts, but used badly and you run the risk of alienating or annoying people so that they feel justified (unfairly or not) to have a go!