How much attention should you pay to opinions on social media?
It’s nearly impossible not to pay any attention to what is thrown at you on social media, be it directly, indirectly or via the beloved algorithms. Denying that is like saying you’re simply going to stick your fingers in your ears and sit in the corner with your eyes closed – you’re not likely to make much progress towards success that way!
Whether it’s keyboard warriors with little else going on in their lives or people who genuinely care about a topic and express a different perspective, you need to accept that you can’t go through life without encountering opposing views.
The reality is, once you put your thoughts, ideas and feelings out there, you’ll probably encounter some negative feedback. Opinions are like a**holes – everyone has one, and they are entitled to have one as well.
Whether it’s keyboard warriors with little else going on in their lives or people who genuinely care about a topic and express a different perspective, you need to accept that you can’t go through life without encountering opposing views.
Comedian Ricky Gervais sums it up perfectly: “How arrogant are you to think that you deserve to go through life with no-one ever saying anything that you do not agree with or like?”
Pushback is a part of life
The sooner we accept that we are going to face pushback online in our pursuit of success, the quicker we can process it with reason and move on. Plus, your social feeds and followers can provide some tremendously valuable feedback that will serve you well if you have ideas or thoughts that need expanding.
Instead of being altruistic and telling you to ‘switch off all of your social media’, which is a massive contradiction that ‘leaders’ put out there (ironically on social media), let’s get realistic and put some parameters in place that can help you to better navigate this social media landscape in a productive way:
The sooner we accept that we are going to face pushback online in our pursuit of success, the quicker we can process it with reason and move on.
Filter constructive and destructive feedback. As mentioned earlier, you should really value feedback if it’s coming from your trusted networks, but remember that not all feedback is relevant and useful.
Let’s all agree on this one: if @jantheloner68340 calls you a moron with little to no reasoning as to why, then you don’t need to let that affect you. If you’re not sure, look at their profile to see if they’re credible.
Prioritize key audience over critics. As you head off on your search for success, focus on your ideal audience (called ‘avatars’). If @davethed*ck257 doesn’t fit your key avatars and is causing a ruckus on your platform, despite choosing to follow you, don’t allow your trajectory to be affected by such grumpy little individuals and instead remain focused on those people who do want help, leadership, guidance or service.
Follow your purpose
Manage ego and criticism. When you have a purpose, new business, mission or anything else you have a vested personal interest in, it is very easy to get defensive when it comes under scrutiny. Your ego might kick in to protect your position, but it can also limit your progress if you reject all criticism. So, if you feel your ego firing up, take a second and breathe before you react and tell whoever it is to get stuffed.
Stay true to your beliefs. Ultimately, as long as you stay true to your north star – your purpose – without compromising your values, and you act in alignment with your beliefs, you won’t regret your decisions. Finally, be cautious of short-term financial gains; they’ll likely appear at some stage, but they shouldn’t lead you astray.
Separating the emotion from the reality often allows you to slow down the information intake and pick out any useful stuff before you move on from it.
If you can wrap your head around this and let it sink in, it will become something of a superpower for you. If you can take any criticism or barb online (or in person, to be fair) in the subjective way in which it’s delivered, then you can hold it outside of your emotional filters and assess it pragmatically.
Separating the emotion from the reality often allows you to slow down the information intake and pick out any useful stuff before you move on from it. It’s something that we all wish we could do more often!
This is an excerpt from Andy Reid’s new book Success Curious, available now.
