Did you hear about the Government shut down?  What about the Governor's scrapped plans to spend $240,000 on renovating the Governor's Mansion? Did you partake in any conversations about those topics or any other "charged" ones? I'm not sure about you, but my personal Facebook and Twitter pages are a constant explosion with everyone's opinions about politics, healthcare and other hot topics from A to Z. You can't open your social media streams without being overwhelmed by it. But, through it all,  I choose to remain silent. Even if someone tries to draw me into a conversation about politics or other topics that could be perceived as controversial, I steer clear. It's just not worth it.

If I take the stance on this side, I run the risk of possibly alienating my clients that are on that side. If I support "that" candidate, my colleagues who are on the other side suddenly think I've alienated them.  This doesn't mean that I don't have a point of view, because I most certainly do (anyone who knows me knows that all too well) but I made a very conscious decision a long time ago to stay neutral on social media.

And if you use social media for your business, I would encourage you to do the same. "But it's my page, I can do what I want!" some people will say and you know what? You're absolutely right. But the rule of thumb that I give our clients is this: unless you ARE a politician, I wouldn't say one way or another what your political feelings are - especially on your business social media pages. I even recommend that you keep it off your personal pages if you've friended clients or possible clients (and if you're like us - everyone is a potential client). There was a time when you could have a somewhat courteous conversation with someone about politics or religion and even if you didn't see eye to eye, you could usually agree to disagree and the main reason this could happen? Those conversations almost always happened face to face.

Bringing social media platforms into the mix changed all of that. As most of us saw during the last elections, people will say things from behind a computer screen that they would never, EVER say to someones face. It's also stripped away a little bit of our intelligence as people see things posted someplace and without checking the facts, take it to heart as the "truth". I've seen families split and friendships ended because of a political disagreement. I'm sure you've seen it to.

So, let's bring this back to your business. Is it really worth risking paying your bills or employees just to go off on a rant? I'm not saying never do it but choose wisely where you do it.