How to Stay Spiritually Strong on Social Media

By Brad Shorr

Feeling like you can't stay spiritually strong on social media? You can.

Social media is a terrific space for building business, but it is also full of temptation, given the extreme (and extremely bad-mannered) conversations that sometimes can take place. When you work in that kind of verbal environment, staying focused on positive, healthy, Christ-inspired communication becomes a challenge. If you give in to temptation by sending — and receiving — the wrong kind of information and sentiments, the impact will be bad for your business, and far worse, bad for your soul.

Having been immersed in social media for more than 10 years, I’ve picked up a few ideas and techniques that help me stay spiritually strong in a social media environment that, I’m sorry to say, has grown louder and nastier with each passing year. I hope you find these suggestions helpful.

Use Discernment in Information Sharing

People are waking up to the reality of so-called fake news. Fake news is really two things: people who consciously lie, and people who spread misinformation because they are parroting other opinions rather than doing their own thinking or research.

This phenomenon is not new, nor is it limited to non-business topics. In our world of Internet marketing, people are constantly sharing popular ideas that are unoriginal, uninformed and incorrect.

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that spreading rumors and listening to rumors are serious sins:

• “Never must thou take up a false cry, or join hands with the guilty by giving false witness in their favor.” – Exodus 23:1
• “From his own words his undoing comes, from his own lips the snare. Innocent enough seem the words of the back-biter, yet their poison sinks deep into a man’s belly.” – Proverbs 18: 7-8
• “Just so, the tongue is a tiny part of our body, and yet what power it can boast! How small a spark it takes to set fire to a vast forest!” – James 3:5

Thus it is very important to take care in discerning both the information we share and receive on social media, and also the people we choose to follow and believe. A few specifics:

• Follow news sources that are credible, that have solid journalistic practices that include reporting research-based facts rather than “anonymous source” type of stories. Am I reading facts, or opinions disguised as facts? This is a question that must always be asked

 

• Within your business niche, pay attention to credentialed, reliable authorities — all opinions and all motivations are not equal. Why should I give credence to this information? Here is a key question that probably doesn’t get asked enough.

 

• Filter words and phrases from your social media streams that you know will do nothing but aggravate you, and that are irrelevant to your business purpose. In the same way, unfollow or mute people whose social shares are not reliable or fair-minded, and who again are not relevant to your business purpose.

 

• Practice charity. Revisit topics you’ve ignored, and people you’ve removed from your streams. Perhaps things have changed. Perhaps you are in a stronger place spiritually, and can contribute constructively to conversations that in the past sucked the spirit out of you.

Spiritually Healthy Communication Practices

As with any form of communication, it’s not only what you say but also how you say it that matters in social media. To maintain professionalism (and good manners), here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.

• Avoid the temptation to respond to snarky comments with snarky comments. While delivering a sarcastic/terse response may be satisfying for a few seconds, you’re likely to regret it later. Not only that, snarky comments will only do damage to your brand image. Also, I’ve noticed that once you give in to this temptation, it becomes easier and easier to make the same error, multiplying the problem.

 

• Instead of falling into the trap I just mentioned, try to answer snarky comments with constructive responses motivated by love. It’s hard to do this, as we all know, but remember that on social media, you are responding not only to one person, but also communicating to the entire community, or at least a good number of people in it. This makes it doubly important to always consider the impression you leave with all members of your social networks.

 

• If you have a business page on Facebook or similar platform, clearly state the rules for communication, and what the consequence are for violating them. This is not an uncommon practice, and helps page administrators to remove or suspend disrespectful group members without appearing to be arbitrary or vindictive.

What Do You Think?

I’ve written too much and have far from exhausted the topic. How have you managed to survive and thrive on social media, both financially and spiritually?

Author Bio:

Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, an Internet marketing agency in Chicago that specializes in SEO, PPC and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Smashing Magazine, Entrepreneur and Moz.