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Expletives Deleted: Swearing in Social Media
Lately, a few discussions regarding the use of profane or obscene language have wafted into my sphere of consciousness.
Recalling old media law debates on the meaning of decency as defined by community standards, these conversations have served to sketch out the huge gray area that is appropriateness in online communication.
If I write a blog for my company, and the company culture is not too conservative, can I write “WTF” in the blog comments? Should I edit or delete a user comment containing a reference to blowjobs?
If I’m just another social media user with nothing to lose, should I still refrain from sharing a joke about a prostitute based on the knowledge that someone at my company will eventually see anything I post and judge me accordingly?
Most interesting of all related questions, if I’m a sole proprietor or consultant whose business often comes through online channels, should I remain “human and authentic” (i.e., occasionally and as necessary employing slight vulgarisms) and attract the kinds of clients I enjoy working with; or should I refrain from all obscenities and profanities so as to widen the conversion bottleneck and risk losing as little new business as possible?
Many questions, many answers. Here’s an overview of some of the answers I got when I posted the general to-swear-or-not-to-swear question on Twitter:
Jolie O’Dell is a designer, writer, and consultant based in Richmond, Virginia.
Thanks for the reply, Jolie. :) Exactly!
I think the answer lies in who you are, how you want people to look at you and what your brand is. There’s nothing wrong with cursing… if you want people to think of you as someone who curses a lot. :) There’s nothing wrong with that (depending on the venue, more on that in a second), but what you say is, pretty much, who you are in the eyes of the online world. So, whatever you decide, just make sure it’s what you actually want. :)
On the subject of venue, it’s also important to consider the environment. On Twitter, you can curse as much as you want, of course. People don’t have to follow you. But, when you are on a forum or a blog, participation there is outlined by the commenting or user guidelines and you must adhere to them if you wish to participate long term and become a respected member of the community. Otherwise, your comments/posts will be deleted and, eventually, you’ll probably be banned.
Just my thoughts. :)
Thanks,
Patrick
Good point, Patrick!
You’re right that the audience you HAVE and the audience you WANT are probably very different things based on where you’re posting content. Community standards should probably dictate what you post on someone else’s site (e.g., whether or not the author/publisher uses/encourages different levels of language and subject matter); what you post on your own site is entirely your prerogative.
Most of the time profanity adds no value to a conversation. I don’t use profanity because I find that there are a lot of other words in the English language that I can use to express myself. The best rule of thumb I ever heard (and I can’t remember from who) was not to put anything online that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see.
Yes, John… One piece of advice from my grandfather (mentioned in the video): People only use foul language because they can’t think of anything better to say.” Creativity in expression FTW!
i’ve written before about speakers who curse during their presentations – this is called "cheap pops" – and is just not needed.
I work near a military Base (Fort Bragg) and I get a lot of young soldiers in my shop, so I’m no stranger to profanity but even they have the decency to curtail their swearing when my mother, who works with me, is present. Personally, I think that if I wouldn’t say it in front of my mother, it probably isn’t appropriate to say in a social setting.
attract the kinds of clients I enjoy working with
That’s key . Though I struggled with whether to employ humor, when I did, good matches resulted. It may be a different story for a different industry, or someone with higher aspirations, but for a web guy who would rather have a smooth process than make a killing, though clients may be fewer and farther between, the results have been great.
Profanity may not be that dissimilar.