Dries My Sack: Social Media

Welcome to my new, ongoing, op-ed. This series will be titled "Dries My Sack" and can be compared to the Grinds My Gears segment in Family Guy Presents - Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. As I find things in life that piss me off, they'll become part of this series. The title for the series comes from a joke my father made while kayaking. I have a "Dry Sack" for keeping things dry during water sports and he made the joke that I should see a doctor.  There you go...

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For those that know me, you know that there are many things in this world that dry my sack.  I have no doubt this series will become one of my most heavily written and viewed.  This series is probably what Ava and Richard had in mind when they encouraged me to blog again.

Today, you know what really dries my sack?

Companies on social media that fail to proofread or use common sense.

I am mainly a Twitter user but the companies are rampant across all platforms and include "journalists" on sites like Buzzfeed.

Let me preface this by saying, I am human.  I make mistakes.  I am sure you'll find one or two on this blog. (Let me know and I'll edit it immediately.)  I try to catch my mistakes and correct them as soon as possible.  It's a big point of pride for me.  The difference between myself and the companies and journalists, is that I am not running a professional site/blog/Twitter/Facebook/Etc.  I am just some moron in California that types, mainly from his phone.

If you are running the social media accounts for a company, no matter how big or small or you're a so-called journalist for a major website, you owe it to your customers and readers to take the freaking time to proofread before posting.

You're =/= Your =/= Ur

Their =/= They're =/= There

Where =/= Were

And those are just the most basic examples.  Incorrectly spelled words are just as rampant as poor grammar.  It's ludicrous how stupid this world is becoming.  I automatically assume your product is shit if you can't take an extra twenty seconds to compose a well-spoken tweet.  You sure as Hell shouldn't run a social media account for your company and certainly should not be employed as a journalists/editor.  I am pretty sure most Editors today don't know what that word means.

As if bad spelling and grammar isn't bad enough, we have the lovely social media operators that treat their company accounts like their own personal wonderlands.  Hey cruise line, you literally have nothing to do with politics.  Using political hashtags to get your tweet about the buffet to show up in searches is the most unethical kind of tweeting you can do.  It doesn't get you additional followers but it does alienate current customers.  Companies should post about their products and services.  If those products and services happen to coincide with a current news topic, great! If not, stay away from trends.  Hey performing arts center that has three bands and a musical showing up in the next month, you shouldn't be posting Mythbusters videos.  Hey Las Vegas casino, you shouldn't be posting a poll about mustard on National Mustard Day when you have no stake in the mustard business.  Consumers follow your pages to read about YOUR business, not to watch you spiral out of control into a sad attempt to remain relevant.  Find interesting things about your company to post about and the followers will share it.

Most of the social media operators for companies and journalists online should be fired for their inability to effectively do their jobs and that's what really dries my sack.