Offending the Masses – Jeff Cutler Scores Again!

August 23, 2010

Do you worry about your Twitter content? Do you agonize over what you’ve said on Facebook and LinkedIn? Are you bereft if everyone doesn’t agree with your blog posts?

Image from http://www.bconnected.lk/hrd/social_businesss_registration.htm – a 2008 course advertised on the Web.

Well, as much as I want everyone to like me, I subscribe to the idea that I should share my thoughts with conviction and my feelings without reservation. Because these thoughts and feeling are stuff I’d share easily and freely at a cocktail party. It’s stuff I’d tell my friends. And it’s content I wouldn’t hesitate to send in an email, text message or other missive vehicle.

But people continue to get bent out of shape over some of my thoughts. So what should I do? What’s the etiquette? Is there a precedent?

Recently I ranted about Greenpeace and now have people up in my grill about my attitude over the environment. Back in July I griped about bad communication among a group of people – and those folks still aren’t over that misunderstanding (ironic situation based on my points about our communication issues).

Therefore, I’m looking to readers to share their experiences when something they’ve written gets people all riled up. I’d like to hear from Stuart Foster, Justin Levy, Meg Fowler and Christopher Penn. I want to hear from you.

Is there a strategy to keeping people unoffended and still entertained? Should people just create their content and throw caution to the wind? And is there a stage at which the caution throwing becomes more restrained?

Share your thoughts in the comments. Or point me to documents that have explored this very issue. Thanks!