Every once in a while I read a Facebook post that makes me cringe. You know the type of post I’m referring to. It’s typically a crude statement followed by a visual description of what they are doing, why they are doing it or even why that particular part of their life is so unbearable.
Facebook posts like the one above make you want to blast the offender with things like – “what in the world were you thinking when you posted that??” or “what would your mother say if she read this?!” Would she be horrified, mortified or stupefied?
Try as I might to shrug off those particular posts, I just can’t imagine what would possess someone to not only think such a thing but verbalize it for all to see. When I stumble upon this type of poor social behavior, I want to give the poster the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe that it was a momentary lapse in judgment. Maybe it was simply a moment in time where emotion reigned supreme and the ability to “just say no” had fled their body.
The sad fact is that the above probably isn’t true. Many people just don’t seem to possess an internal monitoring system. That “IMS” or social filter is the alert system that lives in most of us. It gives us the heads up that the thought rolling through our head should remain there and not find its way into cyberspace.
The problem with allowing those thoughts to tumble out is that it’s not just our friends and family reading them. Far too often it’s potential clients that are monitoring our social happenings trying to gather a glimpse into what we’re made of.
When you look across your social networks, how do you portray yourself? Are you transparent, open, welcoming, genuine, compassionate, understanding, kind, thoughtful and empathetic or are you illusive, short tempered, bitter, angry, frustrated, negative and an overall gloomy person?
Think before you post. Don’t let one moment in time cloud your judgment and ruin your online reputation. And for goodness sakes, don’t be a Gloomy Gus. No one wants to work with someone who can’t get past their own discouraged and defeated attitude.
Clients are paying attention to everything we do. Your next post could make the difference between a new referral or a month without closings.
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