Social media policy
Being on social media is a compromise. The platforms are designed to maximize attention extraction, not to support the kind of work I want to do or the relationships I want to have. I am on some of them anyway, because they are where part of my audience and community is. This document is the rule I follow about that.
Why I am on social media at all
Because the people I work with, learn from, and want to reach are there. Leaving entirely would mean asking them to do extra work to find me. That trade-off, for now, is not one I am willing to make for everyone. So I show up where they are, and I try to be a less harmful presence than the platforms reward.
This framing follows the Center for Humane Technology — use these platforms with intention, not by default. Treat their being-there as a working compromise, not as an endorsement.
Where I am, and what I use it for
- LinkedIn. Professional updates, thinking out loud about responsible digital practice, links to long-form writing on this site. Not a sales channel.
- The websites I run (this one, plus brand-specific ones). The actual home of the writing. Social posts point here, not the other way around.
If I am elsewhere, it is not for work. Personal accounts stay personal.
What I commit to
- Original writing, not engagement bait. No "agree if you think X" posts. No outrage farming. No fake first-line hooks designed to defeat the platform's preview clip.
- Attribution. Credit named, linked where possible, even when the post is short. No screenshotting other people's work without their handle.
- No dark patterns. No "click for the secret" reveals, no pretending to argue with myself, no fake-controversy threads, no engagement loops designed to inflate metrics.
- Plain language about products and services. When I post about something I sell, I say so. When something is sponsored or in collaboration, I name the partner. The hashtag conventions for that on each platform get used.
- No tracking pixels on my own content. Embeds from social platforms on my websites are loaded from sources that respect Do Not Track, or not at all.
- Consent for tagging clients. I do not name a client in a public post without asking first, even when the work is good and the credit would help me.
- Aligned with The Ethical Move pledge. I follow my ethical marketing pledge on social just as on the website.
What I won't do
- No paid amplification of organic posts. No boosted posts. Reach is whatever it is.
- No platform ads on the topics I cover (responsible digital, accessibility, sustainability, ethics). The audience for that work is found through writing and conversation, not through targeting.
- No buying followers, engagement, or reviews. Ever, on any platform, by any means.
- No engagement pods. No reciprocal-comment groups, no schedule-coordinated reply chains.
- No surveillance pixels embedded in social-shared links. I do not append tracking parameters that profile clicks beyond first-party analytics.
- No platform-driven urgency tactics. No "last chance" countdowns engineered to pressure decisions.
Platforms I have left, and why
- Instagram, Facebook, Threads. Meta's behavioral advertising model is incompatible with my privacy and accessibility commitments, and the cost of being on them outweighs the reach.
- X / Twitter. Platform leadership and content moderation changes since 2022 made it incompatible with the tone and audience I work for.
- TikTok. Time-on-platform optimization runs against the wellbeing position in my framework.
This list will get longer rather than shorter as platforms make decisions I cannot reconcile with the work.
When the rule has to bend
If a campaign requires a platform I would otherwise stay off (an awareness drive that has to reach a specific audience, for example), I will name the trade-off explicitly in the post and in the campaign documentation. The rule bends rarely; when it does, it bends in public.
Questions
If you want to discuss any of the above, or you think I should be on a platform I am not, write to hello@doingwellandgood.com.