Always Be Positive Online

The basic idea: Many years ago, I made the decision to always be positive online. As my family and friends will attest, this does not mean that I am always positive and upbeat. It simply means that on social media—which is already far too divisive and negative—I refrain from contributing to that negativity.

This is a larger and more important decision than it may seem, because the negativity of social media is one of the most troubling problems in society today.

A bit more background: You can see above my four simple principles for navigating social media; the common theme is that there are many times you need to bite your tongue and remain silent.

Trolls are a good example; they just want to make you mad. Every now and then someone adds a comment to one of my articles that says something to the effect of "This is pure clickbait." As someone who likes substance, this used to immediately cause my blood pressure to spike. But then I figured out that 95% off such comments have no other intention then to provoke such a reaction in me, so I ignore those intermittent comments.

For people who go a bit further—who are vile or offensive—I simply delete their comments.

But most of all, I look for ways to uplift.

That is also my suggestion for you. Don't sit on the sidelines. Share successes, yours and others. Be inspirational. Express gratitude.

It's easy to be negative, but sometimes hard to be positive. Do it anyway.

Bruce Kasanoff is a social media ghostwriter for leading entrepreneurs.