Photo Credit: Pexels.com CC0 License
I think we live in a culture that just may be impervious to what is posted on our social media today. Even brands get away with poorly misguided social posts that one would think is just not right. What we used to call bad PR years ago when I first started my career is now just part of the social media universe. People are ranting and raving about a business that may or may not be underperforming. However, the customer now feels they have a voice to say whatever they want, whenever they want based on what they experienced. But wait, this gets worse... it even happens when they do not even have a real life experience that got ugly, but only saw a post on their social stream. This is now the norm and it occurs what seems like 24x7 on whatever platform is easiest and most accessible to anyone who wants a voice to share their disgruntled feelings.
The many terms to describe a litany of social-media fallouts and fluff-ups have become a depressingly frequent part of the modern journalistic vernacular: outrageous statements are made, passive-aggressive missives are fired. - Harriet Gibsone, theguardian
A Damaged Reputation Is Done In A Matter of Seconds
Do you think these same people who post ugly rants on social would go out into the street and scream as loud as they could as cars and people passed by? -I don't think so. On social media, everyone can hide behind the virtual curtain and not be totally responsible for what they say and they don't seem to think it really matters. In person, they can be held accountable on a moment's notice. I find it interesting in our mobile moment society, people are buying and selling products, making bank transactions, speaking their feelings and communicating with people around the globe in real time - all on their mobile device in a matter of second. However, they don't want to be held accountable the moment they post something stupid on social media--what has our world come to?
In my opinion, the rants of today are much harder to distinguish because of the viral aspects of social media. What was once posted and shared cannot easily be removed, if at all. A glaringly negative post about a company or person, (whether they deserve it or not), can immediately be elevated from one customer's negative perspective and can be placed in front of millions in just a matter of minutes. I believe that all of us who choose to participate in social media for our businesses and for ourselves should have some respect for the medium and the people in which we are interacting with when we post. In other words, we need to really think before we post. We do not know where our post is going and who is going to read it and it just might cause a lot more damage than good. The world we live in extends far beyond our own personal sphere of influence.