A quick Saturday morning flick through the social media feeds showed me six celebrants doing a bad thing on social media.

They’re not breaking the law, and in their minds they’re not doing a bad or evil thing. Many people would see the same thing I did and think it’s perfectly fine.

But my advice would be to stop.

Please put the gun down, and stop getting on social media and shooting us all up with your sales, your deals, and your selling!

Of course if you’ve got a deal, post away, that’s what I did on Black Friday. But I would encourage you to make sure that 99% of your posts on social media aren’t advertising deals and offers, with packages and prices.

Instead, take to heart the words “social” and “media” and if you like, what it used to be called, which was social “networking”.

If you’re opening up LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, WordPress, WeChat, pr some other app today, be those three things.

This isn’t some newfangdangled methodology, just open your dictionary:

Social

“relating to society or its organisation”

“needing companionship and therefore best suited to living in communities”

“an informal social gathering, especially one organised by the members of a particular club or group”

Media

“the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively”

Networking

“the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts”

Stop selling

Stop the selling, and the advertising, and the shouting, and the yelling.

Start relating to society and its organisation.

Start needing companionship. Start being best suited to living in community.

Start broadcasting and publishing.

Start interacting with others to exchange information. Start developing professional contacts.

Start developing social contacts.

Stop shooting up the social networks with your ads and start being social media and social networking.

If it doesn’t work, I’ll give you your money back plus 10%.