Avoiding a Social Media Wipe-out

Posted by globalcopywrite under Social Media
From http://www.globalcopywriting.com 4750 days ago

With breaking news happening in real time, how you react in your social networking sites could have a long-term effect on your brand. Do you have something to add to the conversation or are you committing social media suicide?

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Comments

Written by businessavante
4750 days ago

Interesting Sarah.

Very calculated. People have emotions about issues like Bin Laden, and they're not all going to calculate what stand is best for business. I saw it on TV, and never considered checking the computer or Twitter. But I'm not afraid to say what I think. As an adult, one of the best things is the ability to disagree w/o judging or dis-liking someone just because their opinion is different from mine (unless it's hate-speech).

Duncan

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Written by globalcopywrite
4750 days ago

Hi Duncan,

It is interesting. I've always been outspoken but I've found the open forum of social media is not the place to have those conversations. Topics concerning politics, religion, and sex will always be popular but they have nothing to do with my business. (My social networking is an extension of my business.) Unlike the people in my face-to-face social circle, the people in my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn networks aren't always rational.

A couple years ago I saw several tweets bagging the Americans for not wanting free health care. I replied to one saying it's not that they don't want health care, they're concerned about a lot of extra taxes. That was a big mistake. For the next six hours I was called names, deluged with stories about how the NHS had saved the lives of family members and was generally beaten up one side and down the other. I felt the full weight of Twitter disapproval all on a topic that had nothing to do with content marketing, copywriting, social media or client work.

The worst part, however, was some of the people who tried to defend me made me feel ill with right-wing elitism and lack of empathy for the less fortunate people of the world. From that day forward, I've been very careful about the comments I make and the discussions I enter into it.

And, yes, I've seen plenty of disturbing comments over the death of Osama bin Laden (and the Royal Wedding for that matter) that wouldn't cause me to dislike or remove them from my network. It's a shades of grey situation though. What I find reasonable someone else won't. I don't want to risk that someone being a potential client.

I guess I'm taking the old 'the best defense is a good offense' approach to social media. Thanks so much for weighing in.

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