My friend Jeremy Stover (who has been featured here in the past) shared a few insights regarding protocol for posting on Facebook, much of which is built upon a foundation of insightful restraint. He said I could share them here.
When possessed of the inevitable urge to post about a controversial, hot button issue, why not take a brief moment to consider the exact reasoning behind your post? What are you ultimately hoping to gain by clicking on the blue rectangle?
It is rarely a bad idea to go ahead and post if the answer resembles any of the following:
- I want to encourage reasonable and hopefully intelligent conversation amongst my family and friends.
- I have stumbled upon information or insight that I genuinely find to be helpful and/or interesting, and I feel others could possibly benefit from taking a look at it as well.
- I’m struggling to understand this issue and watching/reading the news isn’t helping.
You may want to think twice about posting if it’s more like one of these:
- I’m excited for people to like my opinion.
- I’m excited for people to make angry comments about my opinion.
- This is the type of thing that people who belong to my political party of choice are expected to post.
- I have fingers and a Facebook account.
The dignity you save could be your own. Now do as I command!