This month we saw Facebook hit the front pages (again). This time it was due to whistleblower Francis Haugen who shared corporate information with federal enforcement demonstrating the extreme harm that social media can inflict on people, politics and culture at large. During this hearing, social media went down for almost a full day and for me, it was glorious — because I have a love/hate relationship with social media.
I do truly believe social media can be damaging to young people (and all people for that matter) who take it for more than what it’s really meant to be. Did we forget that it’s meant to stay connected to the people and communities we care about and provide an outlet to promote a business or professional platform? I think for most, yes.
It’s a delightful and fun memory. And then as I start to scroll through my feed, I see my content go from uncalculated, unscheduled moments documenting my life to my current state of managing my personal brand — another practice I also have a love/hate relationship with.
As a business person, social media is my storefront for my company and for me as a CEO. It has evolved to be this way over time. It’s a way for people to understand what we do, why we do it and hopefully feel compelled to learn more about me and the work. The goals for that are three-fold: Establish myself and All Terrain as leading experts in our industry, get key people engaged and interested in the practice of XM, and finally, to support one of my personal missions to elevate and empower women.
In my mind, social media is a powerful tool that shouldn’t go away and should be used for good. Too much, we are absorbing the toxic messages that float around on it daily. I am constantly reminding myself to clean house and focus on those in my network that give me a mental lift. It can be that simple. My challenge to you is to take five minutes out of your day for the next week to filter out the bad and focus on the good within your social media channels. We all need it.
Brook Jay
