Opinions
The “DO NOT” Tips When Posting on your Facebook Wall
First, imagine that you’re walking in a park or a sidewalk, when you suddenly see a person holding a huge sign with lightbulbs. As you get closer, this dude begins preaching at you! He is preaching a lot of different things, and he has also written on his sign the same things he is preaching. Now, you have three options: engage him in a conversation, walk by, or cross the street and walk at the opposite side of the road.
What that guy did is the same as posting something on the Facebook wall today. So, here are the tips.
1. DO NOT expect everyone to agree with you.
This is fairly simple. You’re not infallible, you’re not God, and you’re not the source of absolute truth. The world is diverse and you’re part of that diversity.
2. DO NOT assume that dissenters are boasting or being jerks.
There are people who are genuinely interested in the topic, others are genuinely affected by what you’re trying to preach. When people engage you in a conversation, it is because you got their attention, and isn’t that what you were trying to do in the first place?
3. DO NOT, if you are a public figure/ highly influential person, do a “ninja move” when you have dissenters.
What is a “ninja move” you ask? It’s a way of evading the discussion by smoke screen tactics. For example, you ask your dissenter to discuss the topic privately via private messaging; but privately, you tell your dissenter that you don’t want to discuss the topic in the first place, and tell him to go away. You’re like the dude in the street who wants to preach at people, but can’t handle being preached at.
SIDE NOTE: If you have really studied the topic you are preaching and find it defensible, then why not discuss the topic PUBLICLY so that you can enlighten your dissenters and audience, and if you have NOT really studied the issue that you’re preaching, why are you preaching it in the first place?
Now, remember the dude on the street? That’s you. Whenever you post something, you’re that dude with the whiteboard, and the street is the online community of online pedestrians. If people ignore you, that’s their choice. But if people engage you in a conversation, don’t be a ninja.
#Throwback Thursday
Date Published: Mar 7, 2014
