Overcoming the 24/7 nature of social media

When we first started discussing the set up of JV Communications back in 2020, we were well aware of the nature of the job. We had big dreams of owning separate work phones and only working ‘out of hours’ if it was urgent. However, we soon came across a potential problem - how do you know if something is urgent unless you are available to check all messages that come through?

Immediate replies

This got us thinking about the expectation in society of being ‘digitally available’ 24/7. Many of us are guilty of expecting immediate replies from friends & family, or feeling pressure to reply as quickly as possible - even if it isn’t convenient. Even when messaging businesses on social media, we might expect them to reply straight away, out of working hours. Michael Stefanone, professor of communication at the University of Buffalo US, says “we’ve been conditioned into immediate returns”. With ‘instant’ messaging and replying available across all social platforms, we have got used to wanting to connect in real time.

Social norms

However, not everyone feels the same urgency to reply. Do you have that friend who takes weeks to reply to a message - or one who you can count on to reply within seconds every time? The lack of social norms and ‘rules’ about digital availability lead to feelings of anxiety for some people. We project our own thoughts about digital availability onto how we expect others to act. If you’re someone who replies as soon as they see a message, you might start feeling worried when a family member doesn’t reply to you for days - however, to them this could feel like an appropriate amount of time. Technology advances have moved faster than the amount of time it takes to establish social norms.

Potential problems

• Spam! We have run giveaways in the past where there has been a spam link on every single comment (of which there were hundreds!). We were not best pleased to have to go through, delete & block every single one during a relaxing Sunday afternoon!

• Scheduled posts occasionally don’t upload correctly .

• Complaints - people are quick to complain on social media, even if they aren’t quite so willing to make a phone call to discuss it. This can be damaging for a business as others are likely to see it, so it is important to respond promptly and correctly to these.

How we manage digital pressure

• Where possible, we schedule posts for clients during working hours - unless it is more beneficial to the business to post at other times. This means we can check everything as it goes live.

• Making our work hours clear to clients means that there is less expectation for us to be available 24/7.

• Setting up an auto responder on clients’ social media accounts notifies people that we have received the message and will reply during opening hours.

• We are lucky to be a team of two, so can take it in turns to be available for anything unexpected!

When we shut our computers down at the end of the day, we still have access to our phones in our spare time, where we can access work. There are ways we can manage the pressure of digital availability, but there will always be an element of keeping an eye on things all of the time when running our own business.

Sunny wishes,

Jo & Vic