Stop Amplifying Messages You’re Trying To Refute

Mairs Concert Hall at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN

People often share and retweet messages they want to extinguish or refute. But doing so accomplishes the opposite. Every amplification helps those negative voices grow louder and gain more reach.

A social media thought experiment

Close your eyes and imagine your social media profile as a stage (it is literally your platform). You are the only one standing on that stage, with a spotlight, microphone, and all.

You're looking out onto your audience: your social media friends and followers. Each one has chosen to be in your audience because they like you, love you, or appreciate something you do. So they listen to you. They trust you.

When you share a voice on your social media profile you’re inviting that voice onto your stage and handing them your mic.

Whatever you amplify grows

If you believe this voice is worthwhile and important, you've done the person you’ve amplified AND your audience a service. But if this voice is negative or destructive, you've just handed them a megaphone. It doesn’t matter if you hop up and down yelling, "isn't this voice horrible?!!" — the damage is already done.

Worse, your audience members may, in their outrage, share the destructive voice on THEIR stages, making it even LOUDER.

That’s how the outrage machine works.

So, I implore you, don’t share messages you don’t want to amplify.