Do You Use Social Media to Vent?

Do you head straight to your computer to update your facebook status after an argument with a friend? Are you guilty of tweeting your angst?

Most of us have used social media as a channel to vent our frustrations at one point or another, whether it be on facebook, twitter, or writing a blog post to bash a not-so-anonymous “someone.”

Generally, I try to restrain myself from broadcasting my emotions via social media; but it’s so tempting sometimes! I’ve even gone as far as typing it all up, hovering the mouse above the “submit” button, and then quickly deleting the entire thing. What’s with that?

I was curious what others thought, so I decided to ask the twitterverse. A few of my followers on Twitter chimed in:

Why do we feel the need to use social media as a channel for venting our frustrations?

@bitty_boop I think it’s because we need to just let it out. Plus sometimes someone else understands.

@erob1 Because we want people to care and feel our pain. With SM it’s more like to be read and re-read vs in-real-life where it’s heard and then forgotten.

@abrill Our generation feels comfortable expressing ourselves thru SM channels because of the sense of community.We feel at home, in a way.

@MShahab So that other people can learn from their experience. Stay away from bad service or that the comp can improve their services.

@JasMollica I think it is all part of the “new norm” now.  We all seem to know much more about each other than in the past. FB, Twitter and blogs are the new diaries.

@ColbyWG We like to be heard, or at least feel like we are. SM is a way to do that. Think of all the “woe is me” Facebook statuses you see.

Does publicly venting hurt your personal brand or does it humanize your online persona?

@erob1 Totally depends on what you’re venting about. If it’s a genuine situation, you’ve been wronged, then we care. If not, we don’t (“we” being the interwebs).

@abrill Depends on the subject. No one is 100% positive all the time but there are limits: personal attacks and curse words= big no-no’s.

@ms_elisabeth I think that SM really started out as a way for people to connect with each other regardless of time and space. So how can there be any rules about how you use it to express yourself? As long as you realize your online persona = you in real life and you realize that however you present yourself in SM is how people see you in real life as well. It doesn’t hurt you if u realize there’s a lot of exposure of your personal brand on SM. However, sometimes it benefits you to be open.

@MShahab I think venting on social media is fine..within reason. No swear words. But it adds a dimension of personality to your online persona.

@KathyTingTingYu Venting via social media definitely humanizes you but there’s a pt where you’re just whining + looking for attention. You need to find a balance.

@RLBriones If I have to vent, I tend to do it on FB where mostly friends will see it – I try to tweet for networking/professional contacts. But honestly, we all know how we feel about that person who is ALWAYS emotional on social media – it gets irritating and old REALLY fast!