OK, so you have someone in your Google+ Stream who has the potential of being awesome but they seem from their comments they don’t know exactly how social media really works. Kinda reminds me of the little lady who is in the Esurance Commercial who is posting photos on her wall at home thinking she is using social media.
How do you tell them they are doing it all wrong?
You’ve seen them. The people who place an irrational comment in someone’s post. They say things like.. “I just saw this same post ten minutes ago so why are you posting it again?”… or “please only share this article once!! It is already posted several times in my updates”. These are the people who obviously misunderstand how online network works. This brings up a series of questions which none of the answers really solve the problem. Questions like…
- What do you do with people who are not interested in learning how to use social meda? Do you blast them for their irrelevance? No, because that would make you look like them.
- Do you call them out by asking what they mean? Maybe, but more than likely they have turned off their notifications and would never seen the question.
- Do you Block them or uncircle them in hopes that they see the reduction in the number of people they have in their Circles? You could, but like calling them out, these people do not know what they are doing on Google+ so taking the drastic action like Uncircling probably would be a waste of time..but maybe worth it if they have been irrelevant before.
The Real Question Is
Is there a solution? What I have found from catching one or two of these people at an offline function is they clearly do not understand social media, but feel they do. They seem to get their attitude from either doing what someone else has told them to do or from just jumping in attempting to mirror how their offline communities are formated. “I just can’t stand to be around ignorant people. So, I make my remarks in hopes they see the fact they need to improve their image”. I applaud them for their intent because truly, there are a large number of people online…yes, even on Google+…who need to take a modified behavior program. However, leaving a comment that has nothing to do with the content posted is not making the author of the comment look real intelligent. There are some simple solutions people can take which would seem to many to be not so simple.
3 Steps to Take When Considering Making a Irrelevant Comment
- Say nothing
- State, in a complete sentence, a counter point to the post and why.
- or..say nothing.
Social media is not a game of how many comments you can make or a situation where every post in your stream has to have a comment made. Social Networking is not an opportunity to change the world through beratement. Make what you say online worth something to someone..or everyone. Saying nothing sometimes is worth a pot of gold. Let me know how I can help.
