Your message on social media

In today's world, social media is an integral part of our daily lives. Whether we use it for work, to share experiences with friends and family, or to showcase projects and passions, we all have a story, experience, or knowledge we wish to share.

As social media continues to evolve, it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeding the platforms with endless content, driven by algorithms hungry for data. While this is almost unavoidable, have you ever paused to consider if the message you're sending is the right one?

On my Spanish podcast, FM el Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Leonardo Cano—a communicator, journalist, TV producer, and professor who works with an international broadcaster and has created a global community for music lovers and DJs called Orbesonora collective https://www.youtube.com/@orbesonora

Leonardo is an expert in communication, social media, and content creation, and during our conversation, he shared valuable insights on the messages we project through our social media channels. In this blog, I’ll translate and share some of the most compelling points from that fascinating interview.

Eleane: "Leonardo, what’s your best advice for using social media?"

Leonardo: “One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to be clear about what’s public and what’s private. In the social media era, privacy has become a privilege. Sometimes we don’t realize how far our personal details can spread when we post on social media. People post for various reasons: validation, acceptance, to feel integrated, to fit in with others, and many more. We feel the need to express our existence to others, and sometimes this expression becomes addictive, leading us to share more and more, without considering the little details we’re revealing, like our location, status, places we frequent, and the people we associate with.

All this data becomes available for multiple purposes; it can be used for marketing but also for criminal acts.

For example, when we tag someone in a photo with the innocent intent of sharing our leisure time and identifying who’s with us, that photo may become public and appear in searches like Google. These searches store all this data, which can be used by others, and indirectly, we’re giving away our personal information for free, with no control.

Imagine walking down the street and having a stranger approach you, telling you where you live, who your family is, what you do, and what you want. It would likely have a significant impact on you, making you feel very vulnerable. This is what we do when we share publicly.”

Eleane: "How can we protect our personal safety when posting?"

Leonardo: “We need to be aware of how to use the features on any platform and understand what we’re sharing without compromising our safety. We have to be responsible in managing this before posting and think twice before doing it. I suggest delaying your social media posts by at least one day. Posting in the heat of the moment can diminish the sense of safety and awareness that we need when sharing.

Taking a bit of time to analyze if we’re sharing locations, involving other people, and disclosing situations will make us more confident about what we can share with the world. Remember, you can always choose to share in private mode and select the people you want to see your posts.

Another piece of advice is to avoid tagging your location to prevent being targeted by marketing cookies and to avoid letting others know the places you regularly visit.”

Leonardo's interview was very informative and provided valuable insights on how to use social media safely and responsibly. If you’d like to hear more, the full interview is now available in my podcast with translation included in some sites like youtube. Go to www.fmelpodcast.com for more information.