The Ugly Side of Scheduling Social Media Updates
Over the last few days I’ve seen the ugly side of automated social media. With Hurricane Sandy barreling its way over 25% of the United States, the majority of the conversation on social media was about the storm. (Political commentaries were thrown into the mix too, given the upcoming U.S. election.) The minority of social media talk was about weddings. (Event tho it was the minority, it was still VERY noticeable.) It was VERY bizarre. And, it was obvious that most of the “random” wedding tweets were automated, scheduled ahead of time.
I’m NOT against scheduling social media updates as long it’s done within reason and as long as you’re there to contribute to conversation. However, I’m STRONGLY against NOT engaging with the audience. The whole point of social media is to engage, converse, discuss, talk. The problem with scheduling social media is that when catastrophic events like Sandy happen (or the Japan quake a couple years ago) the tweets/updates still appear. And the tweets/updates are totally OUT OF TOUCH with what’s happening in real time. They can appear shallow or insensitive.
How could you be talking about kelly green ribbon and plum purple accents at a time like this? If you were here right now, you’d know that this isn’t the time for that. You’d know that those things are the farthest things from people’s minds.
Think about how that impacts your business, your reputation, your brand.
I absolutely agree with you that posting about “trivial” wedding-related items was inappropriate and in poor taste during the past few days. Equally disturbing (and downright annoying and cheesy) were the posts saying that “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the storm…” Of course they are. Why must you say it? I found it cloying and self-righteous.
However, how much time is right to take a “respectful pause” from our day-to-day lives? Today being Halloween may be a good opportunity to ease back in to “regular” posts by engaging with your audience about the holiday (finally you can post something relevant) and build a bridge to posts later in the week as we all get back to normal.
Thoughts?
Beth – I don’t know when is appropriate to go back to normal. The American Way is to “buck up” and march forward. I think that a little normality can help, but within reason. I think it’s important to remain sensitive. The closer you are to the storm, the longer it will take to be back to normal (it could be months for many). But those of us further away want to be respectful, yet our lives have fortunately not been impacted in the same way. It really has to be a balance.
I agree with your statement of people who have been posting the generic “thoughts and prayers are with those affected.” It does seem trite. But, some people just don’t know what to make of the mess and that’s the only way they know how to express themselves.
I think it depends on the region. Down south, where we were not affected by the storm, our day-to-day goes on like normal. In fact, not a single storm-related post came up on my personal FB feed from any of my 300+ FB “friends” with the exception of a close friend of mine living in NYC. So, while we send thoughts and condolences to our friends on the east cost, for us, it is business as usual and the regular wedding, election, whatever posts go on….
Is it best that we not post at all (I don’t do auto-posts at all, ever) when something like this happens? When is it safe to start back up with the wedding-related posts?
Amy – I think it’s more a question of being sensitive when you’re on social media. AND – more importantly – being aware of what’s happening in the world. Obviously, your day-to-day continues. But, if you have relationships with people on social media that have been severely impacted by the storms, you’d be wise to tread cautiously. Like Beth mentions above, commenting on the obvious isn’t helpful… maybe don’t say anything at all. It can make one seem out of touch or uninformed otherwise. For example: If you went on-and-on tweeting about the latest in parasol styles at weddings and WWIII broke out, you’d look a little out of left field. Of course, that’s an extreme… but the point is that knowing what’s happening in the world is important when you’re broadcasting messages (and *networking*) with people worldwide.
(And, see my reply to Beth on when it’s safe to go back to normal.)
As always, thanks for the sage advice! 🙂
I did not post anything (on my personal FB or business pages) about the devastation on the East Coast until today since it literally hit too close to home for me. I grew up on the Jersey Shore and am truly in shock and disbelief about how this storm has affected so many people I know and love, as well as the places I grew up loving. Some of my fondest memories are of time spent with my friends on the shore in Manasquan and Belmar. It was the mid 80’s and I remember skipping school, slathering on baby oil, and eating Boardwalk fries with vinegar. My husband’s sister (and her husband and my niece & nephew) live in Brooklyn, very close to Red Hook, and it was very frightening. Most of my high school and college friends are still back east. Seeing the photos, videos, and hearing all of the news reports breaks my heart, but I don’t feel like posting about it — as my business — is genuine, even though I am personally connected to it. So, I will slowly go back into social media with a post or two a day and keep my personal thoughts and prayers to myself.
You know I first read this post this morning and I have seen several tweets from people regarding the insensitivity of others tweeting about their business or posting auto blogs etc. I had to let my thoughts marinate before I left a comment.
I feel indifferent because honestly I felt sort of the same way when my city, Nashville, TN was completely under water after 2 days of constant rain in May 2010 and then the Army Corp of Engineers released too much water from the local dams that feed into our lakes causing our entire city to flood. It was a $1.5 Billion dollar loss for our city, homes were under water & over 40+ lives were lost, and thousands were without power, water was scarce, etc. So I totally relate to what is going on in NYC & NJ and other areas.
For me during that time, everyone in other areas just kept on with life as usual(Twitter, Facebook,Blogging, etc) while we were suffering here. It was neighbor helping neighbor & strangers helping strangers to put our city back together. It was very limited national coverage at all. I think Anderson Cooper showed up on the 6th day. NO,it wasn’t a hurricane and there was not any warning at all except there would be heavy rain over the weekend, which it rains here alot of the Spring.
I have been watching the Sandy coverage the past few days and its gut wrenching, I’ve prayed for those affected and have donated to the Red Cross. However as everyone’s life went on in 2010, its kind of the same thing here. I’ve checked on my friends & family but I can’t say that my life has stopped because of this natural disaster. Once I pray and release it what’s the sense of worrying about it, right? That’s faith. I hate that this happened and it makes me very sad but instead of being mad that people are still tweeting about their businesses or color palettes, etc. How about putting those words into action and forming groups to go to NYC or NJ to help those in need. Anyone can sit behind a laptop or ipad and post what they don’t like but it takes a special person to roll up your sleeves and help out your fellow Americans. Hey that’s what we did here in Nashville & I think as a city we are stronger because of what we experienced in 2010.
Just my thoughts…..
Nashville Flood coverage clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFjaQoOdJvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC0o3jHKmk8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOoRWtv11fQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1cPdPf2Kvw&feature=related
Latrice – I couldn’t agree with you more. I was thinking of the Nashville floods earlier today – and even the tornados in OK earlier this year, fires in Colorado. There has been far less coverage of all these disasters nationwide. I know that I have been guilty of being less aware of the hardships people were actually enduring on the ground level. God only knows whats I may have been blathering about during any one of those times! (I’m sure it was useless drivel.) I’m not immune to making social media faux pas.
It’s also impossible to be completely aware of *EVERYTHING* happening… and you’re likely to be insensitive to any one group of people at any given time. (This dawned on me a couple weeks ago during Venezuela’s elections. This was incredibly stressful time for my Venezuelan friends – and the rest of the world was totally unaware. It made me realize that these days our fb “friends” aren’t always the ones with the intel on what’s happening in our close personal lives. And, being unaware can happen at any given time with any given person’s own situation.)
My point is… it’d be impossible to be perfectly sensitive to everyone at any given time. But, trying to be a little more *present* on social media (not solely relying on automated tweets) is really important. Otherwise, you miss the underlying emotions of what’s happening with the people who follow you. This isn’t isolated to national disasters. Have you ever been on twitter when people are just having a bad day? (Seemingly everyone!?) It helps to be *PRESENT* to see what’s happening… I’m hoping people remember to check into the temperature of what’s really happening on social media.
Lastly, I’m *ALL* for giving back… and I encourage wedding pros to do the same! Here’s a nonprofit I founded 5 years ago: http://www.gethitchedgivehope.com/ . And, here’s another that we recently partnered with: http://wishuponawedding.org/ There are 1000s of other good ones (many relating to disasters and tragedies on every scale.) Getting involved is something I hope every business owner makes a part of his/her business philosophy.