Have You Been Cancelled Yet...?

Radio people use Social media a LOT. I'm using it now...so are you, by reading this.

How do you feel about me? Are you OK with me so far? For what it's worth, I like you. I like you because you have chosen to spend some time reading my words and I value and appreciate that. I'll try not to waste the minute or so of your time that this will take.

Radio people are pretty good, overall, at using Social Media. We keep it entertaining and try not to offend and for the most part, we do a good job. We ARE professional communicators, after all.

BUT...you still need to be careful. 

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote a piece on her website where she said: "...the conduct of young people on social media “who are choking on sanctimony and lacking in compassion”, who she says are part of a generation “so terrified of having the wrong opinions that they have robbed themselves of the opportunity to think and to learn and to grow”.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram...whatever platform(s) you use...are all entertainment portals and ways for you to market and brand yourself. Use them publicly as tools for your career development.

Then, if you like, have a private channel for your close friends and family. Whatsapp Groups are great for sharing private thoughts and images. Keep them separate from your public persona. 

The whole Cancel-Culture that we are experiencing is a phase and like all phases, will pass. Right now, though, it exists. We have experienced it with people we work with...one wrong word and the Twitter-Police hunt down their prey and destroy them.

"We are now angels jostling to out-angel one another" - she says.

This isn't bowing down to the mob...it's realising that you don't need the mob for personal validation.

Social Media is a work tool for you. See it like that and use it in a professional manner. 

Then live your off-line life in the private way that you wish.