Bravely Confronting Social Media Issues—And Knowing When to Avoid Them
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Thu, Nov 12, 2009
Social media, like anything growing at an exponential rate and mostly out of the control of anything resembling authority, is subject to all sorts of crazy events that can effect your use of it. There is no doubt that if you use social media, personally or professionally, you will run into problems.
Having a strategy for confronting the social media issues that you will probably run into is essential. A good strategy would be split into two parts- prevention and reaction.
Preventing problems is the best way to handle them. Privacy is paramount, so you will want to continue to take all the steps you normally use to protect your personal information, from using long alphanumeric passwords to ensuring that you have the latest versions of web browsers and anti-virus programs installed on any computer you use.
Preventing social media issues from burgeoning into threats capable of making their way onto your SWOT analysis chart and costing you money continues once you establish a social media presence. Careful brand management is important, but you may be led to a major damage control crossroads at some point. 
You may have to face down a troll on a message, or deal with an embarrassing viral story (e.g. "Woman finds human head in taco salad.") You'll have to decide for yourself what response will mitigate the harmful effects. Viral stories tend to flare themselves out pretty quickly-the average website visit length is under ten seconds. Generally, a disproportionate reaction will merely exacerbate a problem. It may hurt for a while, but ignoring it will be better in the long run.
Dealing with social media issues is going to be a fixture for everyone, at least while social media is popular. A levelheaded approach and a solid plan will serve you well no matter what is thrown your way.