I started a little ‘series’ of posts that are designed to look into the idea that no matter what you do in life your true colors will always be seen. In other words, you can run but you can’t hide. I have way too much experience seeing people say and do one thing then when the rubber met the road they did a “Jekyll and Hyde” on me and I saw them for what they really were. Of course, that often ends in disappointment.
So what’s this have to do with social media? Well, I think that the medium exposes people in the absolute best and absolute worst lights and it is completely up to the individual as to which light they stand under.
So thanks again to my friend Evelyn for making sure that I was at least made aware that in the end our true colors show and to be aware of what that can really mean. So for today I would like to think about seeing red in social media.
- Red as in anger – If you are a hater or a troll or someone who constantly uses social media to bash people and ideas you are unwanted by the vast majority of the online world. You are a social media pariah that is completely delusional as to your importance. Please don’t think that I subscribe to the ‘shiny, happy social media people’ school where everyone gets along in an online communal. That’s not real. It’s GREAT to disagree and to discuss points. That’s where growth occurs. If you do it out of anger though you’re a social media outcast. If you do it out of reason, logic and the desire to grow then you are a winner
- Red as in stop – Social media users with a hair trigger that respond to everything on the fly without thinking can get in trouble real quickly. If you are fired up about something and you are this close to hitting the ‘submit’ button but your position may be ‘over the top’ pay attention to the big red stop sign and the 3 second rule. That means that you count to ‘three Mississippi’ before you make the move. I bet you that more often than not you will carefully erase that ‘thought’ and do something that will serve a greater purpose.
- Red as in flashy – Social media is about drawing attention to yourself. Trouble is though, that many people are drawing too much attention to themselves and it is, to me at least, way overdone. If you are putting the ‘portable siren’ (remember Starsky and Hutch?) on top of your social media vehicle every time you go out you run the risk of being so overdone that you are ignored. Be careful
- Red as in emergency – Emergency vehicles are red for a reason. It gets attention and demands respect. If you are only using the color red online to point to an emergency (you can define that very widely for yourself) then people will listen and come to your aid because you don’t abuse the privilege.
So that’s my take on ‘seeing red’ in social media. Any thoughts? If you made it this far at least leave a comment saying you didn’t see red and stop reading along the way.
