Beware the Overshare this Holiday Season

From time to time, I join my friend Coy Barefoot in the studio at Newsradio WINA to discuss the social media/media news of the day. In our last broadcast together, we talked a little bit about the holidays; how they’re often difficult for people dealing with grief. In this era of frequent self-publishing and access to larger and larger audiences, there’s a growing tendency to overshare on social networks. We’ve all seen it, and many of us have done it — posting overly personal thoughts without regard to the audience and the impact our words may have on others.

Listen to the broadcast here. 

Just a note of caution and a reminder that it’s possible to create a list for yourself, or establish a group of trusted friends so if you absolutely MUST post on Facebook how terrible your Christmas/New Year’s/Hannukah is, that your closest friends, the ones who can be relied upon to respond and to reach out with a virtual pat on the back, will only see.

In case you need a little help with this task, I’ve prepared a visual:

Toodle on over to the left hand side of your Facebook account when you sign in and select Create a Group. Choose the privacy level appropriate, then spend the next several hours pondering your very best friends. Feel free to edit the group once in awhile. I have several groups to suit several needs — and I’m always conscious of what I’m sharing with whom.

Do I mess up? Sure I do — I’m only human. But managing our messages to others is something we can all try to do better.