We're in this vicious cycle now:
Thoughts and Prayers
We need more than just thoughts and prayers
Think Pieces
Action items you can take
Reactions to Think Pieces
New Tragedy
Rinse and repeat
After the Sandy Hook massacre, I created a social media policy for handling mass shootings in progress, tailoring it to each of my clients at that time.
It took me until Tamir Rice to create a policy for when an unarmed Black person is killed by police.
After Charlie Hebdo attacks, I adjusted the mass shootings policy to include terrorist attacks. Why that didn't start earlier and why it mostly only focuses on attacks in the western world is a topic for another post.
What to do when we wake up each day to horrible news, or at the very least, weekly?
How to continue business on social media outlets when you need to acknowledge, or at least respect, but life also must continue?
How to let some light into the dark, either through happy photos, good news or commentary?
How to continue your work and your life without sounding like you are ignoring the devastating news of the day? Without sounding selfish, or privileged enough not to be confronted with the fear every minute, either because of where you live or the color of your skin?
I think about this a lot. It even makes me pause sometimes from posting the cycle of gun control, of Black Lives Matter, of how to raise a white child without white privilege: because in a matter of days, I can start to sprinkle more photos of my happy toddler or outreach advice or activism through art.
And then a new outrage will occur.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's much too easy to ignore before the next horrendous headline enters my morning Facebook feed.
After the brutal month of June and early July 2016, I decided the only solution is to stop letting myself ignore it on days that it isn't in my face. Many people fight these inequalities and face these horrors every day. I need to make the real effort to be more than an ally, and I need to make it every day. There are times for self-care, but I cannot retreat into it. I need to not only post "What You Can Do" articles, but hold myself accountable and post when I actually do make those calls to Congress and inquire/fight for proper police procedure. Feeling jumbled, as in my July 8 Facebook post, is not enough. I also greatly respect those who are not as public with their feelings or actions. Silence is complicity, certainly, but just because I don't see you touting your feelings or actions on social media doesn't mean you aren't doing the work in real life. Posting something just so you are seen as aware often makes it sound trite, no matter how genuine the feelings behind it. I worried about that with every other post that ran through my brain on July 8th, and so just focused on my exact feelings at that exact time. I still worry it could sound trite, but at least I know it was the truth and not me trying to make something more out of the truth that I felt at that moment.
Now this is only for my personal social media platforms. What about brands, entrepreneurs, businesses? There are ways to mirror mission with current events for nonprofits , but others? Right now,I just take it case by case. In much of my work, I ghost write social media posts for people, and I take my cues from their personal pages, or send that all too familiar email:
"In light of recent events, I would like to post something along these lines:" and then I say something relatively simple without making any real statement: the brand version of "Thoughts and prayers". For a local Orlando business, I barely even mentioned the actual massacre, but focused on the helpers in Orlando and particularly helping Orlando businesses.
I take it day by day, adjusting social media protocols as necessary but mostly winging it, collaborating when I have a team. Sometimes it is best just to stay silent. You don't want to feel like you're trying to draw attention to your brand through tragedies, even if it is to express sympathy. Yet, with these events happening so often (or at least our awareness of them amplified by access to media), how can you stay silent?
There are no real answers, just conscience and judgement and the ability to feel ignorant and ask questions of those more knowledgeable more I.
How do you handle your personal social media and business accounts lately?
