An Effort to Create Civility

I have written posts about incivility and rude behavior that is prevalent in the workforce. This year, I have come up with 5 things you can do to create civility on the different social media platforms.

Avoid Uploading Potentially Explosive Photos

The power of an emotional image is that it can contribute to a misunderstanding. People can interpret things differently due to the lack of context. In order to prevent a powder keg effect, think carefully about images you upload onto social media.

Avoid Judgments of Tone

Sometimes, it’s too easy to judge the tone of one’s voice on social network. What the person intended to write may not be the same way you read it as. As they say, most communications are nonverbal. Try speaking to the person and hear it in its intended tone. It may be completely different from the tone you imagined it first to be.

Avoid Talking to Trolls

Trolls are people who feel unheard and make a continuous attempt to gain respect from people. They create enemies in efforts to gain friends and respect. Don’t become their next target.

Take It Offline

It might be a good idea to send a private message or call the person to clarify an issue than posting it to their social media page where everyone can see it. Although you may disagree with someone, sending a private message can show that you still respect the mutual online relationship enough that you would send them a private message.

Help Others

If you spend your time online helping others and giving to the community, the people will more likely come to your defense when you are in trouble. They will also be more forgiving and give you the benefit of the doubt during a misunderstanding that happened on social media.

No matter how incivility exists today, we can all strive to create civility in 2014. Do you have any other things that can help foster a civil online community?