01 Aug What Does Your Social Media Presence Say About YOU?

I will forewarn you that I may step on some toes with this post – including my own. I’ve done an informal, non-scientific study on social media posts and the results were staggering. I encourage you to replicate this study for yourself.

A couple weeks ago this blog was about owning your energy and making the choice to bring positive into your environment. The environment we are talking about this week is all of the social media outlets. I use Facebook the most, so that will be my main point of reference, however, this could apply across forums.

First, I will acknowledge that my Facebook (FB) feed is filled with WAY more positive than negative. That says a lot about my FB friends and who I choose to surround me. It’s also because I will block, or unfriend, serial negative posters, which is also my choice of who I choose to surround me. What my study unequivocally showed 100% of the time was that positive posts receive way more “likes” than negative or sarcastic posts. Authentic, vulnerable posts also received a lot of “likes”, which makes sense, since vulnerability is the new strong.

So what does your social media presence say about you? What energy are you putting out into the world through your posts? I believe many of us have blind spots as to how our posts are perceived. My brother has a great rule when it comes to posting. If he has to think twice about whether it’s appropriate or not, he doesn’t post it. For me, I pause before I hit post and check in whether I think the message will be value add to others.

Could your posts be coming across negative? Maybe what you think is humorous sarcasm is not perceived that way by everyone. If you are just getting to know someone, and they are looking at your page, does it really represent who you are? Are you owning your social media energy?

Take the following self-assessment.

1. Do you throw yourself pity-parties? i.e. traffic sucks, this airline sucks, the weather sucks, this job sucks. We would rather hear about what positive action you are taking when circumstances show up because that will help us next time we are in that situation.

2. Do you say negative or judgmental things about others (including strangers) rather than giving feedback directly to the person who could benefit? Would you want someone posting about you and not talking with you directly? Instead, post about someone you’ve caught doing something right. What is getting your energy and attention?

3. Is your opinion the only right answer or do you invite others to have their voice? Talk about why you believe what you believe from a positive place and respect others even if their choice looks different than yours. There wouldn’t be growth if we all saw things the same. When you can accept others for who they are, you will be able to more fully accept yourself for who you are.

4. Is your post at the expense of another human being? Why would you do that? Trust me, it’s not funny and it makes you look bad, not the other person.

5. Are you focusing on the things you don’t like rather than focusing on what you do like? If so, then you wonder why those negative things keep showing up in your life. What you think (and post) about you bring about.

6. Will your humor be appreciated by everyone? If not, send a text to those who will appreciate it.

Now, do your own study. Post something positive and pay attention to the responses. People want to hang out with happy people, and by making the choice to SPREAD joy, you will EXPERIENCE more joy. I love how this stuff works.

Own your social media presence and energy. I look forward to reading your positive posts!