The Danger of Complaining on Social Media
People complain all the time in lots of ways. Not only do we complain verbally and in person, we also tend to vent through email correspondence and on social media. Written complaints might be more detrimental to you than the verbal ones. There are a lot of reasons you want to break this habit if it is something you do regularly. Let's take a look at the danger of complaining on social media such as Facebook or Twitter.
Damaged Reputation
We have discussed in past blog posts the ways in which complaining can damage your reputation. It gives you the appearance of someone who never has anything positive to say. There are many things that can be implied through the act of always moaning and groaning. People might think you are lazy, only wanting to complain about a problem without making the effort to do something about it. They could view you as untrustworthy. After all, if you are complaining about someone else, why should folks believe you will not complain about them also? Complaining on social media offers a written record of your character that could be misinterpreted by many in countless ways.
Lost Opportunities
These interpretations of your character can lead to lost opportunities. Current co-workers and superiors are likely to see some of your social media posts, even if they are not your friends. It is easy to forget which privacy settings allow what type of viewing. Your boss could be a friend of a friend whom you have tagged in a rant. Prospective employers are known to research social media profiles when making hiring decisions. Do you want one of your first impressions to be of the endless complaining you do on Facebook? You could truly be hurting your chances of getting that great job. If you are a freelancer or even if you're single and dating, you could be setting yourself up for lost opportunities. A potential client or date is likely to check out your online profiles to get a feel for your character. You do not want to miss out on something great, before even getting a chance to get started.
Never Goes Away
Finally, as you probably know, the internet is forever. Screen captures and caches are always available. These things could be found months, or even years, after you have vented about an issue on social media. You do not want people you may not even know yet to form an opinion of you based on these moments of frustration, do you? Consider that before engaging in mindless complaining online.
These are merely a few reasons to keep your online complaining to a minimum. Social media complaints can do damage in a myriad of ways that last years into the future. It is not worth the risk.

Martha – As you will see from today’s post you are setting the right example for everyone!
I don’t like to complain anywhere it if I do I always point out positive things about what I’m complaining about first. Is rather be positive.than negative.
Angie Vallejo – Isn’t that the truth! HA HA. So good that your sons stay off social media. Truthfully if I wasn’t working to build my business, I would not be using it the way I am. Like you I really consider my posts. Thank you Angie for commenting!
Ginger – Thank you! So glad you find this thought provoking!
Great message! Thankfully, my two sons (18 & 23) are not really on any social media except maybe YouTube (Not sure how that happened!) but I do remind them often that the internet is forever. I always take a couple of seconds to re-read my post before I click. And of course, there are some people who should not have access to social media for sure. LOL