Twitter: You might be offending your followers…by accident

You might be offending your followers and not know it. Now, I’m not talking about the offenses you intend. People who disagree with you politically might be offended by a rant you have. People who disagree with you socially might not like what you did yesterday. People who are jealous of you economically, might wonder how you dare spend money on coffee on your way to work. Those are things you can’t really avoid unless you’re trying to hide who you really are; don’t do that.

I’m talking about when people are unintentionally offend by what you do, but that you didn’t mean to do.

How you say it

You put out a tweet that says, “I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Way to parent!” Read that tweet and tell me whether it’s a parent who has just let a 3 year-old play in the street or a father who is dressed in a TuTu dancing with his 8 year-old daughter after ballet lessons. In the first case, that tweet is sarcastic, mad at the situation. In the second, it’s astounded that a father would love his little girl enough to act like a fool to show her how much.

They’re the same words, but have different meaning.

Text on Twitter (and all of social media for that matter) is flat.

In person, the inflection in the person’s voice and the situation would tell you how to read it.

Your updates might have two meanings, one that makes people want to unfollow and the other that makes them want to share. Always look for double meaning and clarify.

Avoid yelling online.

People who don’t touch-type often resort to hunting and pecking on the keyboard with the caps lock key on. I get it.

Just know that (back to our example) “I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I’M SEEING; WAY TO PARENT!” is screaming and probably confirms that what you’re saying is sarcastic. If you’ve attached a picture of the dad who’s dancing with his daughter, people might think you disapprove of his actions when the opposite is true.

When you type in all caps, it looks like screaming, so only do it when you actually are.

What you say

Of course, what you say matters, too. You might be having a bad day and unleash a tirade. Think twice before you do.

Courtesy first

Always look for a nicer way of saying things or think of whether you should write it at all.

I’m not saying it’s bad to express frustration, but consider what it’s like to be the other person. Give them the benefit of the doubt.

You have plenty of time to be mad, but if you reserve judgment, you might find that you were wrong. If that’s the case, you won’t have to apologize if your initial impression was wrong, if you didn’t post it.

If you were right, feel free to express outrage, but now, you have even more facts to bolster your case. That’s a good spot to be in.

Know when to unfollow

It’s okay to unfollow and block the person who seems offended at your mere existence. It’s okay to report a troll that is just trying to make you mad.

You don’t have to be friends with or even argue with everyone. Sometimes, blocking is better than arguing, especially if arguing alienates your true friends.

You don’t have to put up with abuse. Just cut them off and move on.

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