Now that I have completed my series on the 7 Sins of Social Media I thought it might be beneficial to review the 7 Virtues! After all, there are two parts to every story! We have reviewed what to do to prevent bad habits, now let’s look into the positive practices that should be encouraged.

I will start with Temperence. Wikipedia defines it as: constant mindfulness of others and one’s surroundings; practicing self-control, abstention, and moderation. In social media this relates to listening. If you read anything about social media best practices and strategies you will no doubt have seen over and the over that the first action you should take when considering social media activity is actually inaction, or in reality, active listening!

Use Google Alerts and Twitter Search, as well as a dozen of other listening tools to find where your community is and start watching and listening to what they have to say.

Listen to those conversations before getting involved. Understand who the community is, what their interests are, what problems or issues they face and how they engage with each other. And when you think you have listened enough, listen some more!

Once you are really ready to start engaging, keep your first interactions simple, helpful. Do not pitch. This is the practicing self-control part. You need to be accepted as part of the community first. You can read more about this concept of community acceptance in Chapter 3 of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s book Trust Agents – called One of Us.

In summary, seek our your community, listen closely, be mindful of your participation within that community and begin interacting with moderation and forethought.

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