Like this if you agree – no wait, don’t do that! Or should you?

I cannot say enough how much I dislike picture posts for different Causes telling me to “Like” to show support, etc.  If I like or I think my connections will like, you will know. I will repost, retweet, link – everything I can. It is my choice.

But if you share these posts, have you ever considered the ulterior motive for someone to develop a post that ASKS you to click ‘like’ and share, instead of letting it grow on its own…Not all are bad, but do you really think FB or anyone will actually give money or anything else for any shared picture post on FB or how many likes it has? Don’t you think legitimate people who want you to share would actually have a FB page or web page to ‘Like’ and share instead of an individual post guilting you into sharing with your friends? Or if a post was going to go viral, it will go viral without being asked, won’t it? If forced to go viral, is it really viral, after all?

Sharing or liking posts on any social media site should be your choice because you like it – for one reason or another, or even better, because you know your connections may like the information shared, not because someone told you too for whatever Cause they want to bring awareness to.  Did anyone have to tell you that sharing brings awareness?  Didn’t you know that?

If you want to be social, which by the way is what social media is all about, then you SHOULD share, not just what you like and find informative, but what your connections may find informative or interesting. No Cause should have to ask you too.

BUT can you say worm, hackers, scammer, virus, spammer….ever wonder where your spam email comes from? Did you miss the posts about how your email is attached to your FB page or Twitter handle? Your friends emails and handles are too! How many Twitter DMs have you gotten recently that were annoying spam messages asking you to click a link? It has gotten to the point, where any link I receive, I do not click on. Kind of kills the purpose of informing me of your very valuable information didn’t it?These spam posts and links have ruined it for the legitimate people, don’t you think?

Check out how many of these “Please click like and share” Cause picture posts you have posted, liked, shared (&/or how many your friends have). Now, do you ever wonder how many of your friends have received spam because you gave access to their information by posting one of these and they shared at “your” request?

Safe to say, if you post something and people like it, they will share it. No asking will be needed if you connected to the right people. If what you post is not shared, then it may not be the post, it could very well be the people you connected with. You may just have connected with the wrong people, especially if you find you are sharing their posts, and your posts sit idle.

And if you are on social media, and you don’t share those posts that your connections have shared that are interesting, thoughtful, insightful, or informative – then why are you on social media at all anyway?

The only way to fight spam and other unwanted intrusions, is to begin using social media correctly, and not giving those pests a way inside our computers.If you want to reach more people, post something interesting to your connections. And if you see something interesting – share it – but be careful if the post itself begs you to do so.
Happy networking!