Social Media-- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Hurricane season is literally barreling its way towards us in the southeast, and with the help of social media, citizens are staying informed.  Gone are the days of frantically finding a television screen or radio in order to keep up with forecasts.  Thanks to online blogs, Facebook Live, and Twitter I have been able to track the hurricane, get in touch with family in its path, check on traffic conditions, and keep up with headlines surrounding Hurricane Irma, a devastating category 5 storm.  This week in Strategic Communication 6630 our focus is on social media, and what an interesting time to be doing so.  Statista, The Statistics Portal, reports that 81% of the U.S. population has a social media profile, up from 24% in 2008.  A Pew Research article in January of 2017 stated that 70% of all Americans use some type of social media.  With these types of statistics on the popularity of this forum, it is evident that strategic communicators have an incredible tool but as with most things there are the Good, the Bad and the Ugly attached to it. 

It is said that the thing you love most about a person sometimes becomes what you hate about them.  Unfortunately, this also applies to social media. The awesomeness of social media is that it allows you to send a message to people all over the world and receive instant feedback.  The Ugly of social media is that as quickly as you send a message, someone is able to take that message and distort it.  The Ugly includes the trolls that seem to have nothing better to do than lurk and turn every content into something malicious.  No matter how positive, innocent or amazing content is, a troll will find a way to turn it negative or criticize it. An August 30, 2016 article on Salesforce.com entitled “Beware the Troll: 8 Ways to Deal With Negative Social Media Comments” by Carl Henderson suggests you can react to trolls, try to understand them, or ignore them by not feeding into their negativity.  Millions rely on social media to get their news and another Ugly that is increasing is fake news.  Social media organizations are coming up with vetting processes to help identify and eliminate fake news.  You cannot get rid of all trolls and fake news, but these Uglies are becoming less prevalent as organizations increasingly develop ways to recognize and deal with them. Strategic communicators cannot shy away from social media as a communication tool just because of negativity and fake news. 

One Bad aspect for an organization on social media is dealing with legitimate negativity or bad press that could spread and kill your reputation The Salesforce.com article points out that sometimes negative publicity comes when people feel they are not being listened to.  If this is the case, an organization should do everything possible to acknowledge this person, communicate and resolve the issue.  Negativity can also come when consumers are not pleased with a product or service, and on a forum like social media, an unhappy consumer can be heard around the world quickly. Successful strategic communication involves investigating, responding, communicating and offering a solution. The transparency of social media communications allows all of these steps to be seen openly.  Most of the time when a solution is worked out, all parties are pleased.  Sometimes things cannot be worked out and you have to live with that. But if there is a concerted effort to deal with a legitimate problem, there will be proof of your efforts, and often this will help to erase some negativity. Clay Shirky, a social media theorist, pointed out in his TED Talks video entitled “How Social Media Can Make History” that social media is “more and more often a way of creating an environment for convening and supporting,” not controlling.  When dealing with legitimate negativity, this is tremendously beneficial.  Services like Google Alerts monitor your brand and help organizations quickly respond to negativity. Most organizations utilize public relations in order to recognize, address and correct negative publicity.  Social media allows immediate two-way communication and increased transparency to help organizations correct these instances in a timely manner.

The Good associated with social media far outweighs the Bad and the Ugly.  Often this week, I have read that social media brings with it an openness and allows collaborations on a global scale that is transforming many lives socially, economically and politically.  This technology allows the world to engage with one another, entertain ourselves and each other, seek news, promote news, and many other activities that make our lives richer. As strategic communicators, social media also allows us to detect trends and empowers us to reach millions of people, get their feedback, and improve products and services.

An interesting article we had this week was a February 22, 2013 Mashable.com article by Todd Wasserman entitled “Steal These 3 Social Marketing Tricks from Top Brands.”  Wasserman pointed out that brands that are successful on social media are connecting with you through your passions and/or interests.  They are entertaining you with their engaging personality.  Also they are providing you with interesting and/or important information.  The Good of social media includes these three priorities and so much more.  As I stated earlier, this week social media has provided me with helpful blogs, live footage and archived information about hurricane season and the big one that is approaching.  This information has been insightful and some of it has even been entertaining.  I am a fan, a consumer and a professional that embraces all of the Good of social media because even if Irma comes and knocks out my power, my smart phone will allow me to communicate with family and friends and stay informed and even entertained.  After this emergency passes, we can get back to using social media for less stressful and day-to-day communication and entertainment purposes.

Again, as with anything, there is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  There is a little Bad that can be dealt with, some Ugly that needs to be ignored, but the Good that social media provides on a global scale far outweighs the negative.  We as strategic communicators cannot ignore the possibilities that are increasingly available thanks to social media.  From the moment we wake up, we can check on business, our friends and family, then communicate personally and professionally. We can entertain and be entertained.  We can produce messages and promotions and receive them. We can discover and be discovered. We can travel around the world and back and come into contact with vital people by the time the day is over.   I’d say that all of these Good applications certainly outweigh any negativity that may come with it.