The past few years, social media has started to really bum me out…

• The automated feeds of unvetted content
• The lack of human engagement across all networks
• The presence of more trolling and bullying and less empathy

… all of it gave me a bit of an existential crisis about my career and company.

After awhile, I decided I had two choices: I could just walk away from social media entirely, or I could try to make some changes in how and why I used these tools professionally. 

After finding the former unpractical, I settled on the later option.

I made better boundaries for myself, unsubscribing and unfollowing feeds that added no value and a lot of noise. I readjusted my expectations, (from a business perspective, less empathy and effort is certainly the prevailing trend in social media, but one I still feel has a limited lifespan.) And lastly, I decided to take a stand.

Social media is a better place when we treat each other better. So I wanted to create something that would encourage more people to do that.

The solution was to start with the basics — good old fashioned etiquette. And so, my new book, Social Media Etiquette: 100 Ways to Communicate With Grace and Class, was born.

In my opinion, being kind and being calculated are NOT mutually exclusive. It is possible to have a strategic, effective and efficient social media presence that also makes your audience feel respected and appreciated. In this book I’ve tried to provide some tools to help you do that.

The book includes 100 tips to help you master the basics of social media etiquette for or at work, from building a presence, engaging with your audience and publishing content, to specific suggestions for the top social networks being used today.

I tried to tackle a range of issues — from the minor flubs and miscommunications we all encounter on a daily basis, to the behaviors that actually demonstrate a breach of ethics — in a clear, concise format that’s easy to read.

I’m excited to be able to share this book with you. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think.