SOCIAL MEDIA USE: Be. On. Purpose.

I recently tweeted a ridiculous little video describing my intense (sarcasm) preparation for Hurricane Dorian here. In about an hour 1400 people have viewed the video and I am not exactly a popular twitter follow! The point is we live in a day and age when all of us are 'informed' and 'platformed'. We are informed because we have easy access to just about every bit of information that exists in the world via the internet-connected cell phone. We are platformed because of social media and our connectivity to family, friends, and perfect strangers. I would encourage us all to be on purpose with our social media use by following these simple principles

First, push the positive. While social media gets a bad reputation for all of the negative content out there (and rightfully, so) there is also so many good, positive things happening on social media. Make a commitment to share that with others. 

Second, avoid the negative. Make a commitment that you won't jump into negative conversations or promote negative content. If you begin a post with 'I don't ever comment on stuff like this, but...' you probably should just delete and move on. 

Third, follow and friend, according to the first and and second ideas. I believe social media is best when it is viewed as the modern day newspaper. I remember growing up reading newspapers. I only read things that I was interested in. I almost never spent any time looking at any sections that I didn't care about. Too often with social media, we get ourselves annoyed, angry, and upset over things we actually don't even care about. This is what happens when you don't use social media on purpose. It actually uses you.