I love being social on social media sites. From Facebook to Twitter, Govloop or LinkedIn, I enjoy staying in touch and reading about happenings in the world. However, recently I have noticed a few personalities emerge that make this experience less enjoyable. Do you know who I mean? Those people who you can almost anticipate their next post because they are so predictable and (to be honest) annoying.
These people tend to take the “social” out of social media and leave me longing for genuine connections. Have you noticed this? Have you encountered personalities that drive you crazy? Perhaps the incessant “liker” who never says anything but clicks the “like” button or the hyena who only says “lol”… Here are the 6 Social Media Personalities that Drive Me Crazy:
The Self-Promoter: “Look how awesome I am… I can breathe in and out…”
This person just can’t help but share ‘exciting’ news about their recent success stories, what their company is doing, or their kids’ most recent accomplishment. The tone of these stories goes beyond wanting to celebrate with their excessively large network and always has a distinct air of superiority.
The Drama Queen: “Like OMG… My world is ending… I broke a nail!!!”
There is nothing small or insignificant in the life of a drama queen. Every post must have at least three punctuation marks (whether exclamation points or question marks) or be recited until someone responds with the proper amount of sympathy or elation.
The Lobbyist: “This cause, this political candidate, this important message, will change your life.”
The lobbyist finds social media to be a perfect soapbox to promote their message. Converts not conversation is their goal and they abuse the social network for their cause.
The Foodie: “Check out what I had for dinner last night (followed by an instagram picture)!”
The foodie loves sharing photos of the most recent culinary “piece of art” they consumed. The foodie cares little for the interest of the audience but rather finds their food so fascinating that it must be captured on film and shared with the world.
The Creeper: “Hey, I saw that you checked-in at the gym. Be there in 10.”
The creeper falls into two categories: the person you knew years ago that makes it their mission to know the intricate details of your life (and comment on it) and the person who uses check-ins to stalk you. Either way, the creeper knows a little more about your life than you are comfortable with.
How can you ensure you don’t fall into one of these categories? Next week I will share some tips on how to effectively use social media as the “social” network it was meant to be.
Great post, Taylor!
I definitely know some folks who fit into these categories. I myself have been known to self promote and/or act as lobbyist on occasion. I do think it’s about how you balance that stuff with whatever else you’re doing. I share news about my life with folks through social media, so a few “look how great I am” items are bound to show up from time to time. And I also share articles, blog posts, etc about topics that I care about, aimed less at changing people’s minds, and more at informing the masses.
If anyone gets to be too much in any of those categories you can always defriend them or send them a separate message that they may need to seek help or defriend you. I friended one person who used info to make comments to my daughter and I talked to her about it, yet she continued, so it had to end. Some people do not have healthy boundaries. I think we all fall into some of these catagories ourselves and I work hard not to get too hung up in any one of them.