Kelley Mathews
Think before you click.
What we repost reveals much about us. Social media acts as a mirror to our character. When we share content, we are saying we believe in it, and we believe the substance of it. And if you are still on the job market, it will tell your current and future employers much about you.
Does every piece, no matter how much you love it, need to be shared? What’s your purpose behind sharing it? What are your emotions when reading it? I tend to get share-happy about my LSU Tigers, the newly crowned NCAA National Champions. It’s emotional, I admit. It’s also harmless (unless you love ‘Bama—and all my friends who just groaned know I love them). But I am abundantly cautious when and in what manner I share political content. Why? See the next point.
Consider your audience.
My Facebook feed contains many more actual friends and family than does my Twitter feed, which consists of some of that party but also many other professional and hobbyist connections whom I’ve never met in person. The political bent on FB is more conservative; on Twitter it appears pretty evenly split. So I choose to keep my posts more personal, less political, on FB. Twitter isn’t much interested in my kid’s award or our vacation pics. We trade articles and commentary on various articles, and right now politics can be a dominating topic. When I’m not talking about faith or books, that is.
During the 2016 election, I decided to use FB to post what I considered thoughtful articles from both sides of the political spectrum. Many of my friends were upset with the two choices and were trying to figure out how and why to vote a given way. I didn’t necessarily agree with each article’s argument or slant, but I thought they presented their positions truthfully and covered important topics. I was so successful at not giving away my own vote that a friend was highly upset with me, thinking I’d voted one way (the way he didn’t like). We were able to have an amazingly cordial discussion about the whole thing afterward, on my feed. Those are the outcomes I like to see—respectful, honest, and humble interactions on all sides.
Vet your news sites for politics.
When I survey the news, I scan at least 3 different sites, maybe more, for headlines. For any given story, the headline often reveals the slant of the news outlet. Observing them regularly helps me know what is important to that network. Here’s a fun test: on a big news kind of day, when something major is happening in the nation or world, pull up the websites of FoxNews, CNN, NBCNews, and APNews. See how the headlines tell a story. How neutral, or fact-based, are they? What emotion are they seeking from their viewer?
American news organizations such as CNN, NBC, ABC, and FOX (the Big 4) mix their news articles with opinion pieces so thoroughly that undiscerning readers cannot tell the difference. They have merged reporting with commentating. This is what gives them their reputations for leaning right or left. And it’s become a dangerous game of influence. When a politician can claim that one agency tells the truth about him 100% of the time and the others are lying hacks, that agency has lost credibility as serious journalists.
My favorites:
- AP News: The Associated Press reporters are most often the actual writers of articles that are then picked up by national networks. They deal in facts with very little conjecture about which conclusions readers ought to reach.
- BBC: The British Broadcasting Company watches U.S. news from across the pond, which affords them a measure of detachment. They can observe remotely and neutrally.
- Reuters: The driest of all news sources (IMO), Reuters is an international agency providing news about business, finance, national, and international events. They do not include opinion pieces.
- For politics only, Axios is connected, fair, and succinct.
- Do you have any other recommended sources? Please add in the comments.
I’ll do my best to adhere to my own principles about politics on social media. The bottom line, to me, is to value the truth. There is such a thing, after all. It’s not optional. Politics is an important, conversation-worthy topic in our society. It’s good to discuss, but only in a helpful, productive way. I want my online presence to add to it, not take away from it, so that people learn something, smile at my enthusiasm (Geaux Tigers!), and feel safe challenging my conclusions if they disagree. Let’s make 2020 more accurate, less accusatory, and better informed.
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