I use the following plan with regard to social media.
Be Wary: Trends rather than facts
I rarely trust the truth of a post or poster unless I know that person or fact-check the post via multiple sources. Rather than think of posts or posters as truth, I see those posts and posters as parts of trends-tides of information, thought, individuals.
Know the Truth
If an idea or an individual deeply sparks my interest, I'll make the time to research that idea or individual. Once I even took a four hour ride to and from a conference to hear an individual that inspired me on Twitter speak. I wanted to know this person in real time. Once I heard him speak, I was confident about following him more closely. Since that time, I've reached out to meet social media follows via multiple events. That's helped me to create a Professional Learning Network that includes many people I know and trust. With facts, I do more research to see if the facts are true.
Block & Report Disrespect
I block almost all disrespect on social media. I'm not a fan of profanity, humiliation, violence, slander, exaggeration, lies, shaming, and blaming, and will block almost all who share in that way. If the disrespect moves to what I believe is a dangerous level, I will report it.
Share Ideas
I mostly see social media as an idea exchange, and I freely share my ideas via social media.
Humanize Hackers
It's my hope that we can humanize the hackers who are relegated to quiet spaces everywhere and use their time to disrupt the good that can happen.
Bot, Troll, and False Information Alarms and Alerts
I'd like to see the government come up with a way to alert people of trolls, bots, and misinformation in quick, efficient ways. For example, perhaps there would be a daily report of trolls, bots, and misinformation available to social media fans like me.
Rules for Share
I generally use the following rules for social media use:
- Only share what I'm comfortable defending as front page news
- Rather than discuss singular negative topics, I generalize to the greater issue
- Rarely using names of others
- Sometimes using names of others if it's positive news or if they are a well known figure
- Writing with respect
- Acknowledging I'm one point of view
- Leaving out a lot of detailed, personal information (I probably share more than most, but don't advocate that)
As you can see, I'm still crafting my rules of the road when it comes to social media, so I'm interested in what you have to say about this too.
