The Power of Social Media

Use the power of social media to help and not to destroy people or your legacy. Social media help us help people.  A simple positive post on Facebook and Twitter will brighten up someone’s day, will refresh and rejuvenate people in their work.

When Facebook was not existent, business organizations used traditional advertising to get their messages across. Today, almost all business organizations use the power of Facebook to get its message across to its customers and even to its employees at almost no cost to the business owner.  Business organizations must realize the power of social network platforms; ignorance of the power of these platforms means loss of business opportunities or worst, a sure path to obsolescence and irrelevance. Technology is so pervasive you cannot and should not avoid it.

 Even parents must consider this thought. The moment you consider social network platforms, computers or the Internet as enemies, your children will shut you off.

When you use social network platforms (take note, I said “when” not “if” because it is now a must to use social network platforms for whatever need you may have), you must be responsible in what you post. Do not be like other people who post something in their Facebook status or micro-blog through in their Twitter account without thinking much about what they post.  When you do this you are making a huge mistake. Words are powerful; just because they come in digital form do not mean they are of less value. Some people over-express or they just want to be doing what most people are doing with no care in what they do. With the popularity of Instagram, they take pictures of almost everything, often doing this without careful thinking.

Always be careful when you post.  Your work and your business are personal to you and you should use the digital space to share your thoughts with the hope to inspire people to become better.

The phrase “Content is King”, though I believe has been overused in the digital world, is very true.  Do not use the digital platforms to cuss, curse, post obscene contents or just exhibit rudeness without even thinking about the repercussions. Remember that whatever you post will leave permanent digital footprints that will never go away. In fact the digital world will cause your post to be virally shared and reach a lot of people in a short time causing the negative results to expand exponentially.

Also caution your children to be more careful and responsible in whatever they post.  In the name of “fun” they may post pictures with tattoos all over their body pointing with their middle finger and then using expletives all over the place. This brainless exercise leaves something permanent such that one day, should these careless young person apply for a job, HR people will surely see their antics and doubt whether they will be a good fit for their companies.

Before posting anything, ask these 2 simple questions:

1. Will this content stand the test of time?

2. Will my children (and their children) be proud of this post?

 

These 2 simple questions will make you avoid use of bad language, attack individuals, badmouth brands, slander, accuse or make up stories against businesses and companies. Your character is put at a test here. Apart from your reputation you must be concerned with the legacy you want to leave. Several years from now, your future family members might be able to search your archive and get to read what you have published. Would they be proud of you or would they be ashamed of you?

 

Your own line persona reflects your true character. Do not make false claims. Do not lie. Do not use technology to spread false rumors as you will be remembered digitally and who you really are will be exposed for all to know. God knows of course but now, the whole world would too; that’s the power of social media.