Now What?! The perils of social media

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m entering 2021 as if I were in a haunted house. You know you have to keep moving but you are taking each corner with caution and fear not knowing what in the world lies ahead.

In that spirit, I’ve decided to paraphrase the advice of the great John Mayer and say what I need to say. What I need to say is: Let’s be careful with how much we rely on social media to do our communication for us.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to flip through Instagram and Facebook to take a look at pictures of everyone’s families and see how the friend I had in the tenth grade is doing. I love being able to share some things about my son and quotes that I find inspirational or funny. It’s also an amazing business tool to reach a particular audience.

That being said, I am making a plea to anyone reading this: Please don’t assume that everyone who is on social media will see what you post.

I cannot count how often I have heard about something within my community from a friend who says: “Oh, didn’t you see it on my Facebook page?” Well, maybe. . . or maybe not.

Social media is a way to get a message out to the masses. . . in theory. But there are some flaws in that plan.

Flaw No. 1 – Algorithms on social media feeds.

I am no statistics expert, and I don’t claim to know how algorithms are established, but what I do know is that on social media, they are everchanging. I never know when it is changing or what has changed, but I do know that I can see the same person’s profile every time I log in but then all of a sudden see nothing from them. An update occurs and I have to go into my settings to pick people to see in my feed (I never do that). There are people in my own family that I assume never post anything but low and behold, they just haven’t been designated in my algorithm as ‘feed-worthy.’

Flaw No. 2 – Not everyone checks regularly

There is nothing wrong with logging into social media on a regular basis. Some people keep the apps open or get notifications instantaneously upon a post from a friend. But not everyone checks their accounts frequently. Personally, I go through phases where I check my page and post pictures consistently. Then, randomly, I’ll go weeks without really checking. I’ll look at fan pages or follow particular local restaurants but not much else.

Flaw No. 3 – Heavy news days

Whether it be actual news or personal news, there are some days that seem to have a lot more updates on social media than others. Even for those folks who are on their pages constantly, some posts are buried under others within minutes. It’s an easy way to miss seeing someone’s new car or that someone has lost a parent or gotten engaged.

My point is this: If people are important in your life, don’t let social media be their way of staying in touch with you. It’s a great superficial way to see what people are up to but it shouldn’t be your only source.

And let’s not assume that someone doesn’t care about our illness or relationship – they just may not have seen the announcement. Sending a text doesn’t take long. If someone is important in your life, stay connected personally.

Those close to me know that I am not a fan of phone chats so I understand (and appreciate) not calling people to fill them in on news in your life; texts are just fine.

Lastly, I’ll ask you to please not rely on social media when it comes to what is (and who are) important in your life. Let’s connect in 2021!