Using social media for good

We have all read or experienced the negative side of social media: the bullying, the trolls and the negative publicity, but in recent months we have noticed the good side of social media. In particular, organizations such as Kindness Canada and Thank You Ninjas have shown us a more compassionate side. It’s easy for people to hide behind a computer screen and criticize companies or individuals, but what about the good things those same companies or individuals have done?

Compliment don’t complain

When we are angry at a department store or airline, it is easy to take to our social networks with our hundreds or thousands of followers and complain about them, but how often do you do that when a company goes out of their way to do something great? For every complaint that you tweet, why not send out two compliments? 

Become a part of the social media good

Submit a story to Kindness Canada. They promote kindness by asking their audience to submit something kind they did or that they know someone else did. By sharing stories of kindness they hope to inspire others to be kind. How nice. 

You could also send an anonymous “thank you” postcard to someone using Thank You Ninjas. It can be for something as small as holding a door open or as large as a kind paramedic who helped you out during a car accident. Thank You Ninjas believe that the more thank yous people send the better the world will be. They even list ideas on their website as to how people can secretly thank someone: http://thankyouninjas.com/be-a-ninja/

Think before you tweet

Before hitting “tweet” or hitting enter on that Facebook status, ask yourself if what you are sending out to the world is nice. Ask yourself if there is anyone that might be hurt by the message. If so, you might want to think twice about hitting that button.

Instead of using social media to broadcast a negative experience, use it to promote something good as well. Share the good things in life and respond to others who do the same. We all know there are bad things going on in the world and on social media, but there is a lot of good too.

If you are attending this year’s Social Capital Conference, you can start participating in social media for good by helping the Thank You Ninjas secretly thank people throughout the day. For more information on that check out the SoCap blog post about hem: http://socialcapitalconference.com/become-a-thank-you-ninja-at-social-capital-2014/

Do you know of any other social media accounts or websites that are designed to do good in the world? Leave a comment below and let us know.

10 Don'ts of Twitter Etiquette: How to engage without annoying

Officially, there aren't many rules on Twitter, but there are definitely a lot of best practices that can help you fit in to the community a little more easily. Think of it as Etiquette for Twitter.

Here are ten practices for savvy users to avoid (in no particular order):

• Don't send automatic direct messages (DM) - people don't like them because they are impersonal.
• Don't fill your feed with only broadcasts of your message - engage others. A good rule of thumb is that less than 1/3 of your feed should be new messages from you and the rest should be replies and retweets.
• Don't call someone out for unfollowing you, most of the time it isn't personal. And often, there's a twitter bug. Politely ask if it's someone you regularly engage with, but don't make assumptions that it was intentional or that they will resume following.
• If you're having a personal discussion with someone don't move their name to the middle or end of the tweet with every reply.  By keeping it as the first thing in the tweet only people who follow you both will see the tweets. Those who see both sides of the conversation can follow along (if they want) without losing the context of what's being said.
• Don't reply to every tweet by retweeting (RT) and commenting. This breaks the thread of the conversation and it can be frustrating to your followers when there isn't enough context to understand what is happening with a RT.
• Don't beg people to follow you. People will generally follow you back if you engage with them in some way. It would be far more meaningful if you replied to something they were talking about instead of simply asking them to follow you.
• Contrary to what some experts believe, you don't have to follow back everyone who follows you. Twitter is about creating your own unique user experience.
• Don't use Twitter to complain about every bad experience you have with businesses, services or products - social media isn't meant to be a place to air every grievance. It doesn't look good when a business owner uses it that way.
• Don't autofeed from other social networks unless you're sure your tweets won't be cut off. People don't want to have to go elsewhere to see what you're talking about. More importantly, it is obvious when you're feeding from other services and it can give the impression that you can't be bothered to take the time to tailor your message to more than one social network (because it doesn't have to take that much time).
• It isn't necessary to thank everyone who follows you. If you want to make a point of acknowledging them, go read their profile and start a conversation. Make it natural. The thank you is a nice gesture, but it isn't impolite to skip it. 

The most important things to remember are to be friendly, personable and add value. The practices above are "frowned upon" because they are perceived as not adding any great value. Spend your time finding other ways to connect so that followers stay actively engaged with you.

What other Twitter Don'ts would you add to this list?

Guest Post: 5 Reasons you should participate in a Twitter chat (or two)

Twitter chats are a great way to connect and engage with others, especially if you are new to Twitter and looking to build your network.

Even if you are one of the seasoned Twitterati, these chats offer tremendous opportunity to make new connections and sustain existing relationships (you never know who you might know in a Twitter chat!)

For those of you who don’t know what a Twitter chat is, it’s basically a virtual meetup held on Twitter centred on a common subject. You follow the conversation via the hashtag for the chat.

Some of my favourites are #socialchat (Mondays at 9 p.m. ET, #tweetdiner (Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET) and#PR20chat (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET). To be honest, I haven’t checked in to #PR20chat in a while but it’s not for lack of interest!

Pick a chat, any chat

A really nice guy named Robert Swanwick created a Google doc that you can review to find a Twitter chat of interest – and to add your own chat to should you decide to start one.

You can use Twitter clients like TweetChat or TweetGrid to aggregate tweets related to the chat, which makes it easier to follow and respond to other participants. These clients also auto-tag your tweets with the right hashtag which is convenient since it ensures your tweet gets included in the chat stream without you having to remember to type it out.

The one thing to remember about participating in Twitter chats is that it’s not about pushing your own agenda - it’s about creating real, meaningful conversations on a shared topic of interest with other people. Whether you are representing your business or yourself, this point holds true.

So don’t start broadcasting/selling your product or service during a Twitter chat unless it’s relevant to the conversation. And even then, consider whether now is the time to be doing so. If someone expresses interest, consider continuing the conversation without the Twitter chat hashtag. 

Do it! Do it! (seriously, how can you resist the Do it! chant?)

If you’re on the fence about the value of Twitter chats, I offer five reasons you should give it a try:

1. Networking

Twitter chats are a great way to find new people to follow on Twitter, especially since you have a shared interest in common! It also enables people to discover you – which can help you build a following.

And since it is the quality of your followers – not the quantity – that is important, Twitter chats helps you to connect with others in ways that are relevant and meaningful. To sustain that connection, make a point to follow up with participants after the chat.

Relevance = the secret sauce of social media success!

2. Learning & Sharing

Twitter chats enable you to debate, question and share ideas with others who are passionate about the same topic as you! So dive in and comment. A lot.

Often Twitter chats include a series of questions (Q1, Q2, Q3 etc.) that the host shares, along with the Twitter chat hashtag. You then respond with A1, A2, etc and the associated hashtag.

Don’t be shy. If you have a question or don’t understand – speak up! Chances are someone else in the chat wants the answer too.

3. Build your personal brand

Twitter chats are a great way to demonstrate your expertise and build awareness. Reasons 1 and 2 are how you do it. Nuff said.

4. Gain inspiration

Twitter chats can be another source of inspiration for your next blog post, video, podcast, etc. Whether it’s varying points of view, a great quote or a new perspective on your subject of interest, Twitter chats can have you swimming in content generating heaven!

5. They’re fun!

It doesn’t matter if it’s online or face to face, when you get together with people who share the same interest as you, it’s fun! Twitter chats usually last 1 hour and you won’t believe how the time flies!

The Etiquette

There is some Twitter chat etiquette I should mention. Nothing too dreary – just a few points to make the experience enjoyable for you and everyone else.

• As a courtesy to your followers not participating in the chat, you may want to send out a quick tweet indicating that for the next hour you’ll be tweeting with the hashtag #insertTwitterChatnamehere.


• When joining the chat - say hi. You wouldn’t arrive at someone’s house party without saying hi to the hosts and other guests, right? That said, it’s okay to lurk but if your goal is to network, lurking won’t help.


• Sometimes you may find yourself joining in late on a chat. If so, it is perfectly acceptable to ask - “what question are we on?” Be it the host or another participant, someone will fill you in.

• Respect the guidelines set by the hosts. For example, some hosts prefer you don’t share links until near the end of the chat because sending people away from the conversation can be disruptive.

• It should go without saying - no trolling. Disagreeing with others is of course fine, however rudeness is the quickest way to get shut out.

• Stay on topic. If you find you and a few other participants are going off topic, by all means continue the conversation but remove the hashtag so you’re not spamming other participants.

• Speaking of spam - don’t spam other participants with a hard sell on how great you are, your product is, your blog post on topic X is. Just don’t.

• At the end of the chat, thank your host(s)! And your fellow participants.

So there you have it. My five reasons you should join in on a Twitter chat.

Now spill…what Twitter chats do you participate in? If you don’t currently participate in a Twitter chat…is your interest piqued?

*#TwChat image via Robert Swanwick | Secret sauce image via Crowded Ocean

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Mel Gallant (@melgallant) is a communications professional who writes about parenting, the social web and pop culture on her blog Confessions of a Social Media Junkie. When she’s not blowing bubbles and chasing after rainbows with her 2-year old daughter, Melany is either bookworming it or fumbling her way through a knitting project she started three years ago (it’s a tea cozy). As co-founder of Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa, Melany helps to connect women in Ottawa with a shared passion for technology.