Growing up, I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say, it is better to say nothing at all. That doesn’t seem to be such a rule to live by anymore.
If you ask most people their opinions on the sort of things said on the internet, you can guarantee it wouldn’t be long before the murky subject of nastiness and unpleasantness, anonymous or otherwise, was raised.
It is something definitely tied to internet culture. Perhaps people feel detached because they are behind a screen, but some of the things that are said online would never be said face-to-face in real life. Take twitter for example, people go out of their way to tag celebrities that they supposedly don’t like, saying truly vile things. I don’t know if they forget that there is a real live normal person on the receiving end of said tweets(who just happens to have a cool job), or that they genuinely get-off on upsetting people, but why do it?
I think we should all make a concerted effort to say nice things online instead. Hence the #SnowProject.
According to statistics, we are more likely to share a complaint than something positive. So if we are ticked off with a company, we’re more likely to tell 9 friends about it, whereas if we are happy with something, we only tell 4 people or even less.
We should strive to alter that balance I think. It makes no sense to promote the things you are not happy with, whilst staying quiet about the things that make you happy!
So, let the snow fall. If someone posts a nice picture or blog, tell them you like it. If someone says something that makes you smile, tell them it did and that you appreciate it.
If you get good service from a company, go out of your way to thank them and shout about them. It can make the world of difference to a small business if you publicly tell other people that you are happy with their services and products. I know I am always super pleased to receive unexpected testimonials and kind words for my personalised poetry service!
Perhaps the snow could fall further than just online. Be nicer on and offline. Pay a friend a compliment. Tell a shop assistance you’ve been happy with his or her help, or even seek out their manager and tell them! Do a stranger a favour; give them a smile and say hello!
I love the SNOW acronym: Speak Nicely. Online Warrior. or perhaps ‘speak nicely only & wow!’
Snow, when it falls, covers the world like a blanket of pretty. Beyonce recently asked what is pretty? I think showers of niceness, gratitude and appreciation would be very pretty indeed!
There is no harm in being extra nice. In fact it can be contagious in a good way. Let’s see how far the niceness can spread! Whether just a light sprinkling of snow or a full on snowstorm, I’d love to see more nice things being said online and offline. Join in if you are on twitter, facebook, and youtube, and use the hashtag #SnowProject when you actively say something nice! Why not get started right away. Who could you say something nice to or about?
This is post 18 of 100 blogs in 100 days.
There’s the best and the worst on the internet. You just have to read some of the comments on YouTube to find some really vile sentiments expressed.
But then you do get that balanced out with people being really generous with the help they are willing to give you sharing so much
But I think it would do no harm at all to make a little more effort to be nice to people on-line. Good suggestion 🙂