Submission by Jorge E. Luna II
Not a week goes by when I don’t hear about another social media disaster: inappropriate posts, pictures, and videos can lose your friends, embarrass family and can even cost you a job. Hasty Tweets and reactionary replies take down students, parents, and CEOs. I rarely use social media, so I sought out the advice of second year student at an Ivy League college who manages online content for a non-profit company as an internship, a recent college graduate who is active on several networking platforms, and a Marriage and Family Therapists who specializes with teens and young adults to get solutions for avoiding social media disasters. Here’s their collective advice:
1. WAIT A MINUTE (or more). First on everyone’s list was to take a break and wait before posting, especially if the topic is emotionally reactive. Suggestions ranged from 15 minutes to one hour. This will give you time to process how you are really feeling and reacting.
2. RUN YOUR COMMENTS THROUGH A FILTER of is this, necessary, beneficial, risky, representative of you are and want to be, will you regret this later?
3. CRAFT YOUR POST IN A NOTEPAD or word processing program on your computer. This will allow you to edit for quality and clarity. This process alone will likely you to reconsider risky posts.
4. REMEMBER MANY POSTS ARE PERMANENT, somebody might take a screenshot, or a reply to a website may not allow you to delete the comments. These can come back to haunt you.
5. FOLLOWERS ARE NOT ALWAYS FRIENDS! Sending something you think is private, might become public in the wrong hands (see number 4).
Social media’s benefits are commonly known, and so are the dangers. Following these five tips will go a long way toward keeping you where you want to be.