Misery loves company.

People are far more likely to complain than they are to compliment.

Social media makes us far too loud, and the result isn't good for any of us.

Sure, in the short-run we may get better or faster access to customer service, discounts and free "influencer trials" of products, books, services etc.  But are we any happier?  Is all this negativity this making us more negative as a society?

There are literally dozens of brands that want to engage in social, want to start an open an real dialogue but are afraid of the craziness that they witness when they listen to the conversation.  Influencers are acting like divas, making unrealistic and unfair demands, even threatening brands with their audience as a weapon.  And this gets worse in private.  The private emails I have been shown are startlingly childish.  The brands may have made mistakes along the way but the response from many members of the community is unbelievable.  The damage to the industry is only heightened when these same complainers take the podium at industry events, putting all of us in perceived bad company.

We can do better than this.  We can get better service by working with brands than against them.  We owe it to the social champions at brands who have helped us.  We owe to them to not only behave better, but to say thank you in writing.  You have no idea how much good your thank-you emails do for the social champions at these brands. 

And so, you have a choice.  You can yell and scream and increase your own stress levels, or you can act like a decent human being, extend a hand of partnership to the brands your encounter along the way and help build this industry together.

The choice is yours.