I know many of us are trying to get our heads around social media. However, I think that to a great extent
whatever you do in this space is a reflection of who you are now and how you choose
to behave in real life.
Recently I’ve seen a few posts on Twitter either openly maligning
people or shouting out unfollows. These
have ranged from the curious “Did you
press the wrong button?” (yeah, right!) to the outright aggressive or rude. @naturalgrump also wrote an excellent blog
recently on his experiences of rudeness - “Some
people are just rude”.
Are you Stuck in the Playground?
Those of us who want to behave like adults, probably take the mature
& respectful approach. Where there
is no relationship forming or we are just not interested in what is being said then
we probably unfollow, disconnect, walk away.
It’s not personal, just rational. Sometimes we make mistakes but we try to learn, develop and
improve.
On the other hand, if you think social media is about being king of
the playground then the mature approach won’t be attractive will it? You’ll
probably want to accumulate the most connections or followers; shout out as
loudly as you can so that only you can be heard; and even pick on those who
don’t follow you. You’re still stuck in the playground, desperately trying to
be king of the castle. Feels like a
lonely place to me...
Find your meaning
The word social comes from the latin socius, generally meaning
sharing, associated, allied, partner, comrade, associate, ally. This is how I aspire to engage – in life and
with social media. Abuse, rudeness and
playground antics will never feature.
How about you?
