3 Filters for Social Media

Why do you post what you post on Twitter or Facebook or blogs or Tmblr or Google+ or YouTube or Pinterest or or or? Is there any thought behind it at all other than “hey, I thought of this”? If you want to matter on social media, to have value, it takes a bit more than that. If you want to avoid contributing to the cacophonous dumbness that is so much of social media it takes some filters. Here the three that I use in my attempts to say things that matter to some degree to someone other than me.

1.      Is this informative?

Will the readers/viewers learn something new or engage a perspective that is fresh? Are you pointing them to a link or resource that is intellectually stimulating and smart? Are you solving a problem or making them aware of one? In short, you want the reader to know something they did not know previously after encountering your post.

2.      Is this thought provoking?

If you are engaging an idea or subject that is well-known, are you offering ideas that pique their interest by taking an angle that is new? This can be done both by offering a unique thought process and offering it in a creative way. Your goal is to have the reader think “Huh, I never thought of it that way before.”

3.      Is this entertaining?

There is value in simply helping people laugh, smile, and enjoy themselves. It could be cute animals or exceptional athletes on YouTube or a funny observation about society or quote on Twitter, if it entertains it’s worth sharing.

Ideally, whatever you post makes it through all three of these filters, but any one of them makes a post worthwhile. If you can do all of this, and be wholesome for your intended audience (the first and foremost filter) then post away.