Is There a Chance to Elevate the Social Media Scene Rather Than Leave It?

Viewpoints are my own.

“I’m deleting my accounts,” a friend recently announced on Facebook. “Social media has just become too negative.” 

His post brought me a twinge of sadness for two reasons: 1) that his experience had been so bad and 2) that a voice I esteemed was leaving the forum for good.

This friend of mine is not the only one looking to escape the din of comments, tweets, stories and snaps that now permeate our lives. According to a 2018 Origin study titled “Meet Gen Z: The Social Generation,” 64% of respondents say they have taken a break from social media, and 34% say they have quit permanently. Their reasons include feeling like they are wasting too much time, experiencing too much negativity and encountering irrelevant or overly commercialized content. If you search “quitting social media” on Google, more than 40 million results appear. The highest ranking are first-person blogs or articles with headlines like “Why I Quit Social Media,” “How to Quit Social Media for Good ...,” and “Quitting Social Media Enriched My Life Hugely - Would You Dare to Hit Delete?” 

While social media, at times, seems to bring out the worst in people, it also has the potential to create a world of good.

While social media, at times, seems to bring out the worst in people, it also has the potential to create a world of good. Arguably, it may be the most impactful communications development since the moveable-type printing press. Like that pivotal invention, social media has increased the reach and speed of information, inspired a new wave of creativity and amplified diverse voices. It goes beyond by also allowing multimedia expression and real-time dialogue. The result isn’t always positive or productive, but with the right intent, it can be. 

If the urge to “hit delete” strikes, consider the following opportunities before you go. Is there a chance to heighten the social media scene rather than leaving it? 

Finding Common Ground

It is all too easy to spot our differences, and social media seems to magnify them at times, but it can be just as effective for finding common ground. 

While social media sometimes distracts us from the people within arms reach, it also removes outdated communication obstacles like proximity and even social status. Nowadays, you can connect with people around the world from all walks of life. You don’t even have to be in the same social network to engage with someone. You just have to be on the same social network.

I was astounded one day when a favorite actress of mine liked my tweet about a cause we both care about and another time when a well-known author commented on a news story I shared about the emergence of “little libraries.” I’ve never met either of these people, and we certainly lead different lives. But low and behold, we have common interests, and social media allowed us to connect over them instantly. 

Similarly, have you ever connected with an acquaintance only to discover that you could have been fast friends all along? I’ve found a number of old high school classmates, former colleagues and friends of friends who share my fondness of travel, cooking, concerts and bad puns. We may never have been in the same social circles or discussed anything but work in the office, but come to find out through social media, we get each other. 

These may seem like simple commonalities, but they have great value. Simple commonalities build affinity and appreciation which are important when differences arise. I don’t agree with or like everything my connections share on social media, and I’m sure they don’t agree with or like everything I share. But when we disagree, those basic bonds help to minimize “us-versus-them” mentality. There’s always an element of “we” - we who like vacations, new recipes, classic rock and dad jokes and who also see things differently from time to time. 

Philanthropy and Problem Solving

In 2012, New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation started GivingTuesday, an initiative to inspire collaboration and generosity in the wake of major spending days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In its first year, GivingTuesday helped to raise an estimated $10 million in charitable donations. Just seven years later, with growth in awareness and activity fueled largely by social media, the movement generated $511 million in U.S. online donations alone and $1.9 billion across 60 nations worldwide. 

GivingTuesday is just one example of social media-fueled philanthropy. According to the 2018 Global Trends in Giving Report, social media inspires the most giving of any communications tool, including email, websites, print media and television. That generosity doesn’t just come in the form of monetary donations. People have also been inspired to volunteer, make lifestyle changes for the social good (e.g., recycling, buying ethically sourced products) and participate in real-life community efforts. 

One recent case that I found particularly heartwarming was that of an 80-year-old Army veteran who passed away with no remaining relatives. The funeral home published his obituary, inviting the public to attend his services, and the story quickly went viral on social media. More than 1,000 people from around the state of Florida showed up to pay their respects and honor Private Edward Pearson. The service, which had to be moved to a larger venue to accommodate the unexpected crowd, was streamed live on Facebook by news outlets and has since been viewed by tens of thousands of people. 

Mutual feelings, a sense of community, the urgency of an unfolding story and a means to take action - these things inspire people to solve problems great and small.

Mutual feelings, a sense of community, the urgency of an unfolding story and a means to take action - these things inspire people to solve problems great and small. Social media has the unique capacity to combine those ingredients in one borderless place.

Listening and Learning

When it comes to social media, people often focus on acts of distribution - posting, sending, publishing - but that’s just one side of the communication balance. The medium also affords an unprecedented opportunity to hear, consider and learn from others. 

I imagine some of you are now thinking about people and viewpoints you would rather not hear or consider for various reasons. Perhaps you don’t agree with them, they rub you the wrong way, they use poor spelling and grammar. I hear you, and I’d like to present two thoughts for consideration: 

1. People can set good examples and bad examples. There’s something to be learned in either case.
2. Agreement doesn’t have to be the outcome for communication to be successful. Understanding and tactful disagreement are also great victories. 

That said, everyone has limited bandwidth, and the internet has no end. It’s not feasible or productive to give every voice an ear (or eye, as the case may be), but there are still plenty of voices worth listening to and learning from. 

I gravitate toward voices that seek common ground, aim to solve problems and value listening and learning as much as sharing and distributing. LinkedIn is one of my favorite social media channels for those reasons. In my experience, the exchanges have those qualities more often than not, and the implications for continuous learning and development are significant. 

In days gone by, opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange and professional mentorship were limited to direct contacts within one’s organization, industry or immediate vicinity. Now, we all have the chance to learn from more than 660 million professionals in more than 200 countries and territories, connecting through common interests, groups and ever-narrowing degrees of separation. I’ve found brilliant and generous mentors on this channel that I never would have met otherwise, and I’ve tried to help others in an effort to pay that forward. In the global marketplace, LinkedIn may be our virtual agora. 

In Conclusion … 

Social media is not perfect, but neither is society. The best chances for improving both are to seek common ground despite inevitable differences, collaborate to solve problems great and small, and take every opportunity to listen and learn. Now, more than ever before, we have the means.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.