Your social media “Personality Profile”

I have been noticing a proliferation of different social media approaches, some good and some bad, and thought it was high time to give some guidance on the issue. My aim is to help if you fall into one of these categories.  So, here it goes:

1. The Stalker

Most moms fall into this category at some time or another.  You know you are in this category when you find yourself browsing every photo/post in your children’s profile and commenting OR commenting on every comment your kids make.  Moms are not the only offenders, however.  If you find yourself using one particular person’s name more often than 10 times a day, you might be a social media stalker.  The cure? Stop

2. The Life Lesson Guru

If all you do is pose grave life lessons for us all, each day, you might be the “Life Lesson Guru.”  While we appreciate your tireless devotion to deep things, you quickly fall into the “unfollow” category if you aren’t careful.  These types tend to get negative quickly and the life lessons turn into veiled attacks at those they are unwilling to confront publicly.  The cure?  Stop and tweet more about the positive things in your day.

3. The Promoter

Your cause/book/CD/t-shirt/product is no doubt important and groundbreaking, but if that’s all you have to say, you are just a commercial.  Social media is about personal connection not simply product placement.  Give us some of yourself mixed in with hawking your wares – you’ll find that YOU sell better than your 140 characters of propaganda.  The cure?  Be real.

4. The Downer

There’s a reason EVERYONE loves Tigger, Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, and Rabbit while Eyore is the one always wishing folks would spend more time with him.  No one wants to be with a downer in real life, why would they want to be around a downer online?  The cure?  Smile and THEN tweet.

5. The Ranter

Public rants about “everyone who understands what I’m saying just needs to chill out……” do nothing but make folks wonder if THEY are the ones who understand.  You’ve effectively alienated those who you wish would “chill out” AND those of us who don’t understand but don’t want to get close enough to you to fall into your “Everyone” category.  The cure?  Get less upset at people.

6. The Holy Roller

I love God with all my heart, BUT every post on social media can’t be a slobberfest with Jesus or a highly spiritual quote.  If you just behaved that way in real life, even Christians would have a hard time being around you, much less the unsaved.  Social media, like everyday life, is a fabulous opportunity to show how real and normal following Jesus can be and if you are constantly rolling Holy, it makes it slightly less creditable for the rest of us. The cure?  Tell us about the food you like, the music you enjoy, and how much you love your family.  Really balances things out.

7. The Balanced Approach

Just be yourself.  Be authentic, real, and let us into your personal life (just a bit).  Pick a topic or two (kids, your hobbies, funny quotes, news stories, etc) and weave them throughout your posts about yourself.  It gives you depth, allows people to see you are real, and gives credence to your posts of Scripture, church, etc.  Your diet wouldn’t be balanced if you only focused on one thing, it takes more than that to stay healthy.  Same on social media.

Find yourself being one or more of these folks?  I have, at some time or another.  We all should remember that social media (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkdIn, etc) are just extensions of your personality and people see right through a faker.  Be real, be polite, be sincere.  If it wouldn’t come out of your mouth, it shouldn’t by typed by your fingers.

I’d love your comments.  Except those demeaning social media as a valuable source of connection – you are commenting on a blog, after all.  Don’t be hypocritical as WELL as wrong.  ;-)