Perspectives & Strategy

One of the features many Social Media  sites have added to their application is an ability to signify that you like the item posted. The idea is to allow other people that you know that there is a post that you approve of which may encourage them to take a look, increasing the popularity of the original post. Both Facebook and LinkedIn have “Like” features as do a number of other networks.

But of course the opposite of liking something is not represented in any way. Should we be able to dislike a post? Yet of course there is a little element of social responsibility that needs to happen here. Surely whether you like of dislike something said you should justify your stance or tell the person what you do not like. There is often value in criticising what a person has said – it assists them in learning and growing.

Perhaps the real point here is not disliking something but disagreeing with something said, after all this is merely one person’s opinion that is represented. This is always valid for a debate on any professional subject. The fact that two people can disagree on a specific point is not bad; it merely means there is no general acceptance of the issue at hand. Debate can be good and social media is a powerful place for discussions on any subject. This is one aspect that makes LinkedIn Answers such a powerful part of that network, because it is possible to ask a question in such a way that allows for debate to occur on the issue.

Toastmasters is a respected organisation that assist people through the challenge of public speaking. Part of that process is evaluation and when any person’s speech is being critiqued then both positive and negative points are viewed as a part of the learning process. Thus the speaker learns both what they have done well and what they have done poorly; this helps them through their next project.

Debates are better aired than allowed to fester.

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Peter Giblett’s new book “Is your Business Ready? For the Social Media Revolution” is now available on Amazon.