Another day, another gaffe. In the wake of the shocking destruction of Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH17 over Ukraine, Orange is the New Black actor Jason Biggs tweeted an insensitive joke that angered the Twittersphere. He reportedly wrote: “Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?” Thankfully, he later removed the tweet and apologized.
The errors didn’t end there. Social media mistakes were in fact responsible for alerting media to pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine who were probably responsible for shooting down MH17. Igor Strelkov, the self-proclaimed defense minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, wrote on social network VK that they downed an An–26 plane. Further, the Twitter account of the Donetsk People’s Republic said they’ve acquired self-propelled Buk missiles capable of destroying planes at high altitude. These posts were later deleted, fueling speculation that they could be culpable.
Social media can bite if you use it carelessly. When emotions run high, insensitive words can cause hurt. Given how easy it is to broadcast something to the world, you may lose it in the heat of the moment and write something rash.
While social media is a minefield, you have help. Here are some tips to stop you from writing something insensitive.
Give yourself time to think
Posting on social media gives people an adrenaline rush. As a result, they ignore the possible consequences of their tweets. To mitigate this, give yourself time to think. Scheduling posts in advance with tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, and TweetDeck can help.
Scheduled postings give you a margin of error. If you schedule a post that will go out an hour later, you have ample time to check and make sure nothing stupid is said. Mistakes can be fixed after you schedule a message.
Buffer, Hootsuite, and TweetDeck are the best options whether you’re a typical social media user, a pro, or a manager of your company’s brand pages. Use TweetDeck if Twitter is your only social network. Buffer and Hootsuite support the most common social networks, except for Instagram. Hootsuite integrates with the widest range of social networks, but Buffer if great if your goal is to find optimal posting times. All three are free to use, but Hootsuite’s and Buffer’s premium features need payment.
Tools for Instagram users
Instagram users are not left out. ScheduGram and Latergram.me both let you schedule Instagram posts. ScheduGram is available only as a web app, and you need to pay a monthly fee to use it. Latergram.me, meanwhile, is free and available on both web and iOS.
Facebook Pages
Suppose you don’t post much on your personal social media accounts but are managing a Facebook Page for a company or your own business. It turns out you can schedule an update within your Facebook Page. It’s simple: just pick the time and date of posting, and hit the schedule button. The post will appear in your activity log where you can easily keep track of scheduled content.
Ginger
Grammar gaffes are not often not the worst of mistakes. But on occasion, they can make you a buffoon and worse, send an unintended message. Just ask British Prime Minister David Cameron, who tweeted that he wanted to protect children by “making them illegal”.
It’s unacceptable there’s a loophole allowing paedophile “training manuals”, that’s why I want to protect children by making them illegal.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) April 27, 2014
Ginger, a grammar checker for web browsers Google Chrome and Safari, can catch these errors before you hit ‘send’. After signing for an account and installing Ginger, the app automatically detects errors as soon as you type something into a field within the browser. If you’re using a web-based tool like Buffer, Twitter, or Facebook, Ginger can save you from a lot of trouble.
The only downside to Ginger though is that it lacks a desktop version. But if you make it a habit to constantly check your work before you publish, the battle is already won.
Social media can be a useful tool to disseminate information about breaking news and events, as long as you’re careful. These tools can take you a step in the right direction.
See: What this Singapore restaurant did wrong when handling complaints on Facebook
MH17 crash: how not to mess up when tweeting about a tragedy
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