Adventures In Social Media: What To Do When Tragedy Strikes... Someone Else

The timing of this blog post is totally accidental, although it's very timely. Is that a tautology?

Last week when I was concluding the latest installment of my "Adventures In Social Media" series, I randomly picked a topic from a long list of ideas I've been squirreling away. It was just by chance that I decided this week's topic would be on what to do when you find yourself in the very sticky situation of how to use social media when tragedy strikes - someone else.

 

I mean, is it okay to post good news or some random pop-culture trivia morsel on Facebook when some big, tragic event is in the news? Should you continue with your frivolous post if a friend, family member or acquaintance has posted about some personal tragedy like the death of a loved one?

It's ironic that as I write this blog post, the nation is holding its breath waiting on the decision from the Ferguson grand jury on whether police officer Darren Wilson will be indicted for murder in the Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown.

Here's my dilemma: as an African-American male, I would be remiss to not blog about the Ferguson grand jury's decision. But it hasn't come down yet. And if the grand jury announced their decision on Monday, my latest "Adventures In Social Media" post might look like I'm avoiding the controversial Ferguson issue and merrily continuing to blog about silly stuff, oblivious to important things going on in the world.

So, after some soul searching, I decided to proceed with caution and do exactly what I'm doing: mention that I plan to blog about the Ferguson grand jury's decision when it's finally announced.

Now that I've addressed that matter, on to the rest of the topic of this blog: What to do when you're logging onto a social media site like Facebook to announce some good news or post some trivial item, only to see that someone has posted bad news: the death of a loved one, a job loss, a family member or spouse has been diagnosed with a serious illness, etc.

Say you've just seen Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I and are eager to share your review with Facebook friends and get their reactions as well. But when you log on, you see that a friend has posted that his grandmother has just been admitted to the hospital with some kind of serious condition. Is it insensitive to go ahead and post about your moviegoing experience?

I don't think so. I'd say the proper etiquette would be to comment on your friend's post, letting him know you're thinking about his grandmother, and go ahead and post about Mockingjay. In general, I think people understand that life is not going to come a grinding halt for everyone around them just because they're experiencing a personal hardship.

This experience actually happened to me recently. I had planned to blog about a road trip with my grandmother to a cousin's wedding in, of all places, St. Louis, not far from the ongoing protests in Ferguson. I posted about the pending trip on Facebook and let everyone know to look for my blog posts.

Unfortunately, the trip was unexpectedly cancelled when I had to rush my grandmother to the hospital with a severe headache. My Nanaugh Pearl is doing just fine now, thankfully, and I certainly don't begrudge anyone who continued posting about anything and everything on Facebook after I announced my grandmother's hospitalization.

As much as I love my Nanaugh Pearl, I realize that the world doesn't revolve around me, my family and whatever issues I choose to disclose on Facebook. And so should everyone else who uses social media.

In the next installment of my "Adventures In Social Media" series, which I plan to publish on Monday, Dec. 1, I'll explore the dangers of fishing for compliments - and comments - on Facebook.