Don't be social media snappishWhat draws you to social media?   Is it the conversation, the links to articles, is it that most people enjoy each other and are generally happy to be posting?  A goal most of us have with social media is to stand out for providing value to our friends and followers.  If you’re social media snappish, you certainly stand out…in a bad way.

So just what is “social media snappish?”

Remember Ally McBeal – a popular TV show from the 1990’s?  Recently I received the complete set of Ally McBeal DVD’s as a gift and have been enjoying watching one of my all-time favorite shows.  In one of the first episodes, Richard Fish says something not-so-nice to Elaine and she replies “snappish.”  It just so happened that later that day I was participating on a Twitter chat and someone said something not-so-nice and I immediately thought “snappish!”

Since that day I have watched this individual behave snappishly on a few different chats, the posts this person writes also have that tone.  Snappish is a bad character trait to have.  This person is not friendly, doesn’t seem to get the meaning of the word social and certainly doesn’t embrace the “happiness” that is generally found via social media.  This person isn’t the only one that I’ve noticed recently ~ now that being snappish is in the forefront of my mind.  There’s a handful who behave like this.  They never seem to be happy; they are always in a snappish state of mind.

If you’re not connecting, social media isn’t for you!

What’s interesting about those that are social media snappish is that they don’t really connect with others.

If you don’t connect with others, if you’re not building relationships, what good is social media?  It’s the sharing, the conversations, and the friendships that are built online that make social media such a wonderful tool for all of us.

There really is no room for being social media snappish.

I wonder if this individual realizes that they aren’t connecting.  I’ve gone through my friends and followers and have deleted the few snappish people I was linked to.  Most of us are looking for value, positive messages, and insightful posts.  Someone with the social media snappish character trait is not offering anything of value to those who have chosen to connect with them.

There’s not many of them out there, but they do tend to stand out in a very non-positive way.  I wonder if they really think about what they’re posting, I wonder what they think social media is going to do for them and their business when they clearly don’t get what social media is all about.

How do you handle snappishness?

While I notice this snappishness more now since watching Ally McBeal, I also simply ignore those who exhibit this trait and continue on.

How do you deal with social media snappish people?  Were you a fan of Ally McBeal?  (The dancing baby was my first screen saver ever…)