SOCIAL MEDIA TO-DO LIST

Queens, today's blog post is going to be short and simple because I want to save you some time to actually perform the tasks I've highlighted below.

Too many times now, I have seen amazing individuals and indivuals who actually need to work on their heart and character have an opportunity stolen from them because of something they did or said on social media. 

Now like I said, sometimes when this issue arises it's for a good reason. Roseanne Barr lost her show because she recently posted a hurtful, harmful, and hateful tweet. Well she's been posting hurtful, harmful, and hateful tweets, but I digress.

But many times, tweets or facebook posts from years ago are brought to light to attack a person's character or degrade work they're doing for the community, or just out of pure jealousy to tear a person down. 

Queens, it's 2018 and we will have no more of that.

We were all young, dumb, and (broke) naiive once. Hopefully the person you are today is different from who you were when you first signed up for Facebook and Twitter. 

Let's not give a hater the satisfaction to come for us because they were too afraid and too busy minding our business to get some of their own.

Queen Maree's 6 Jazzy Tips for Cleaning up your Social Media Presence

1. Think about your brand and the role you want to have on this earth

When I was thinking about Phorbe and my goals for Phorbe, I thought of everything. Colors, language, social media graphics, the look and feel I wanted for the Instagram timeline, the mission statement, the 4Bs of Phorbe, the hand sign, the Phorbe Wave, our mantra everything that makes up Phorbe. Everything has it purpose to help inspire people to overcome their struggles and motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. Phorbe is both a feel good movement and a call to action. I want to make you feel something and do something all at once. That is the Phorbe brand. Phorbe is to me what Harpo is to Oprah it will encompass many things, but all under one umbrella. This means the Phorbe blog is just the beginning, there will be Phorbe ride-sharing, Phorbe Publications, Phorbe FIlms, a Phorbe Foundation. Phorbe is literally my heart and soul.

Our brand is your heart and soul. What do you want to portray, what do you want people to gain from your brand?

Your brand doesn't have to be associated with a company, blog, or group. It can be just you as an individual. What is your goal in life, how do you want to be portrayed, what do you want people to know two minutes in to meeting you?

2. If it doesn't fit your brand, delete it

This is going to take some time, but in the end it will all be worth it. Social media is an extension of you and your brand. Once you have your brand in mind, go through each of your social media platforms and clean them up. Delete any and everything that doesn't align with that mission, that goal, that purpose you've created for yourself. Delete posts, photos, quotes, videos, pokes, delete friends, stop following certain people, unlike posts, etc.

Get rid of anything that doesn't set the right example of who you are and what you want to portray about yourself. I know it feels like a cop out to sensor yourself but thing about it. If it doesn't align with your purpose, why keep it around? Why invite that potential drama into your life? If it does align with your purpose and it's controversial protect it at all costs. Not matter what. You have to stay true to yourself and your brand. There will be people who don't like it, but as long as its what you believe and stand for and its something that will further your purpose in life, stand by it. Such as the transgender woman, Monroe Bergdorf, did in London. She lost her deal with Loreal for expressing her thoughts on race but stood by her comments.

3. Stop entertaining trolls, ignorant and hateful people

Think about it. Have you ever gotten into an argument on social media that ended in a positive way with both sides taken time to see the other's point of view? No right? You are not changing anyone's mind, you are only changing their view of you. So why continue to waste your time with these trolls? You are doing nothing but allowing negativity into your aura. You've got better things to be doing with your life. Let the haters be.

On the other hand, when you post something that you care about such as something you've created or a cause you're passionate about you've got to ignore any and all trolls. These people live to tear other people down. Don't give them the satisfaction. Resist with every bone in your body. Do not respond, do not explain yourself, do not explain your piece. Don't entertain negativity. No matter what you do, there is always going to be someone or somebody that has some issue with you.

For example, every ride share driver is on rated system of 1-5 stars. After taking a ride, a passenger is given the option to rate their driver and leave a comment. This is done anonymously, but let's be real, there are very few times when I can't guess who wrote what comment.

Recently, my negative feedback has been about my lack of conversation. Let's get real queens. Every passenger asks the same questions: How are you? How's your day/night been? How long have you been driving? Are you local? Do you do this full time? Do you like LYFT or UBER better? I've been thinking about becoming a driver would you reccomend it? Etc. Think about it, if I'm working a 4 hour shift that's anywhere from 8-16 rides of every single passenger asking me the same set of questions. Around the 14th ride I'm just like yo, yes, no, maybe so. However a lot of passengers have a problem with my one word answers.

So, I created a graphic where I answer all of these boring common questions and ask my passengers 5 interesting questions: What's your favorite inspirational quote? Have you traveled anywhere interesting? What's a cause you're passionate about? What are your goals in life? Do you have a crazy wild story to tell?. I then posted these graphics on the inside of all of my windows in my car. This has helped me 1. have more interesting conversations, 2. keep down on the same ol same ol boring abc questions, and 3. improve my ratings.

However, I just got my feedback back yesterday, and now my passengers have a problem with me not helping them with their luggage. You see, you can't make everybody happy! So do you booboo and be proud of who you are and what you've done no matter what people say.

4. Think before you post, comment, or DM

Two years ago, I was posting heavily about the election. At one point, I posted something after having only skimmed through the article. I posted it with the caption "This encompasses everything I feel during this election". A minute later, a fellow Chapman graduate commented that this article was written by someone who disagrees with everything I stand for and the article does as well. I immediately deleted the post and then actually sat down and read the article. He was right. This article didn't agree with anything that I had been posting and saying for the past year. I was so caught up in posting, that I wasn't even paying attention to what I was posting.

Queens, don't be like me. Once you purge your social media of everything that falls outside of your branded goals, keep yourself from posting unbranded content in the future. This includes comments, likes, photos, and sliding into people's DMs. Everything on social media has the potential of becoming public, don't fall into a trap by writing something or posting something that can always be screen-shotted and saved for a rainy day of jealousy or spite. Some topics to avoid, inappropriate sexual hateful, ignorant, racist, sexist, all the ists content; joke or not, politics, religion, money, and personal details about yourself.

5. Update your privacy settings

I believe if you are an artist or entertainer in anyway, this one is difficult. It's difficult because you almost have to have a public social media presence, you can't make your accounts private. Yet, there are still ways to go about it. For instance you can create multiple accounts one for personal use and the other for business use. You can also make it difficult to find yourself on social media by adding something to your name. Or using a nickname instead of your birth name.

However, if you are only using social media for personal use to keep up with friends and family, make sure your account is private. This will make it harder for future/current employers as well as random people who didn't like something you posted on another platform to find you.

When I say make your account private, I mean timeline/profile, posts, photos, everything. Make it so that when someone you don't know clicks on your account, they don't see anything, not even a photo of you.

6. Admire from afar

If you must visit pages or people's profiles that you know you shouldn't be visiting, do so in stealth mode. Don't like anything. Don't comment on anything and please don't direct message that page. When you leave that page, leave it the same way you found it. Untouched. Just viewed.

They say you're innocent until proven guilty, but in this day and age, the court of public opinion is quick to judge, and even quicker to act. Don't fall victim to having everything you've worked so hard for stripped away from you due to one comment you posted years ago that you don't even agree with anymore. In the same fashion, don't post stupid stuff. In the never ending race of reaching the Best You possible, you have to keep in mind how you are portraying yourself and the opinion of those who matter towards your purpose. If it doesn't paint the picture you want portrayed of yourself in the museum of life, than don't post it, comment on it, like it or DM it--full stop.

It's a beautiful day to conquer the world, so go forth purge your social media accounts and slay!!!

-Queen Maree

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 16, 2018