I was recently browsing Facebook when I came across an interesting post in which a friend of mine, like many others do on social media, expressed a personal belief of his. Shortly after he made his comment, a fight broke out. Within an hour he had almost 50 replies under his original post. The majority of those who commented disagreed with his opinion, while a few brave souls were there to defend him. As someone who was not participating in the argument-simply spectating- I watched things go from bad to worse. Personal attacks were being made towards my friend all because he expressed a simple opinion he believed strongly about. As a result, he ended up deleting his post the very next day.
Now the question I ask myself in these situations is this: is it better to stay silent on social media so that you don’t have to deal with bullies? The answer, of course, is ‘no’. Social media is meant to be a place of interaction and expression. We shouldn’t have to fear expressing our opinions just because there are people who are constantly scouring Facebook looking for a good argument. Disagreeing with someone is just fine, but verbally attacking someone is never alright. It is in moments like these when we must learn how to handle those pesky commenters who want nothing more than to give us a headache. Author, speaker, and social media guru, Guy Kawasaki, has come up with two bullet proof tips on how to win any social media fight like a champ.
1. Go Three Rounds. Guy teaches that the first key to winning any social media fight is to embrace the rules of amateur boxing and fight for only three rounds. He says, “The opening bell is when you share a post. Ding-ding. Round 1: Commenter comments. Round 2: You respond. Round 3: Commenter responds to the response. End of fight.” Simple enough right? Don’t let the fight last longer than it needs to; otherwise you’re going to find yourself going 10, 15, 20 rounds with some random person you haven’t talked to since high school.
2. Delete, Block, and Report. If keeping it to three rounds doesn’t work, move onto tip # 2. Guy advises, “Don’t hesitate to ignore, delete, block, or report trolls and spammers. You don’t have a moral obligation to engage with them, and there’s little advantage to lowering yourself to their level.“ Have you ever heard the saying that one way to win a fight is to ignore it? The point is that we all know that social media arguments are pointless, so sometimes the best thing to do when you feel that someone has crossed the line is to delete their comment (not yours), delete that friend, and move on with your life.
There you have it, two tips for winning any social media fight like a champ. We are all too busy to worry about offending someone over social media. If we aren’t using profanity, posting obscene photos or talking about topics that would be considered inappropriate to the average human being, then we are likely in the clear to post to Facebook. If someone disagrees with your post and makes a comment, that’s totally fine. That’s one of the many reasons for social media. But if someone is constantly trying to argue and personally attack you on social media where all of your friends and family can see, just drop them. Ain’t nobody got time for that.