So, you’ve just had a bad experience with some mega-company that treated you bad and you’re upset. You know you’re right and they’re wrong, so in your moment of rage, you throw a couple of tweets out there about it and follow up by posting in detail on your Facebook account about the evil company that has made you so upset.
We’ve all either done this or come very close to doing it. Here’s a bit of advice… don’t do it! Wait a week, and if you still believe it’s an issue, then calmly lodge your complaint, preferably with the company with which you have an issue. Why resist to post in anger? You never know when one day you’ll be looking for employment and the prospective employer will check you out on the web. What are they going to think when they see postings where all you’re doing is ragging on various companies? They’re going to view you as a negative person and one they may not want to hire.
If you’re a salesperson, a prospect looking to potentially buy from you may very well do the same thing. They may check you out on the internet to see if you’re a person who can become easily upset or who carelessly handles themselves immaturely. They may think, “I don’t want to do business with someone like that.”
As a child growing up, my mother always used to tell me to count to 10 before saying anything negative. Maybe counting to 10 even today is still the best thing. Instead of just counting to 10, wait 10 DAYS and see if your frustration has subsided. My guess is it probably will have all but disappeared by then.
Excellent piece and very valuable advice. Often the moment passes but what you post in cyberspace is a permanent record of who we are and how we deal with frustrations and the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. Perhaps the best advice, along the same lines, came from Abraham Lincoln who cautioned ” If you want to tell someone how you feel or how angry you are write it in a letter and put it in your desk – look at it tomorrow and if you still want to send it…” (Forgive the paraphrase)
Again agree, excellent advice. I had a recent situation where the inference that I would be very vocal on social media about an issue that I had with a company a very powerful argument that in-fact changed the response they had to my initial compliant to a positive one, so the matter is now closed.
You can leverage it, but agree it should be used as a very last resort in anger.