Everyone’s got a different sense of humour, right?  And a lot of people online seem to make it their mission to get offended at everything, and spend their free time “righting wrongs”.  Such people are often called Social Justice Warriors, as they’re campaigning almost around the clock to attempt to punish any transgression against political correctness that they see.

However, even with that risk, humour can work on social media if done right.  But do think carefully about the audience you’re communicating to, and the potential risks.  For example – cracking a rude joke with your friends can have very different consequences to sharing the same joke with the wider internet, especially when you’re representing your business.

So particular care does need to come into consideration when you represent your business.  Either the business you work for, or your own business (if you’re the owner), since of course you do represent your brand and don’t want to start making any too off colour jokes.

But Social Justice Warriors do seem to make it their mission to cause real problems for people they get offended by, even going as far as to try to get them removed from their job, so do potentially tread carefully.

But with all these disclaimers, don’t be afraid to be funny!  But again, know your audience.  So here’s a few reasons why being funny on social media can actually have many benefits:

It Unites People

Laughter makes people feel good.  It brings some fun into their day.  And it can bring groups of people together online by creating a shared experience.

Laughter Literally Makes You Feel Good

Laughter means you are having fun, of course!  But it has very tangible physical benefits too.  It helps to relax the body, and it can help your immune system… so a little humour, if done well, can bring some sunshine into people’s lives, and since sometimes the world of work can be a little grey, bringing colour into people’s day is a good thing!

It Helps People to Remember You

There’s a lot of noise online.  In fact, it never stops!  Some social platforms help to cut through this noise by prioritising content for you and doing a lot of filtering.  For example, Facebook knows your friends, what you’re interested in, and tries very much to optimise your Facebook experience according to that. Whereas platforms like Twitter (currently) don’t filter at all, and it’s a never ending stream of tweets, of very varying quality.

And since most people are on social media for fun and distraction, if you can put out something funny that cuts through all that noise, it can definitely help get people’s attention, helps get people to remember you, and definitely encourages them to share your message.  There’s a reason viral videos are generally something funny!

It’s More Likely to be Shared

Something funny is many times more likely to be shared than something merely interesting.  Okay, people do love to share news articles and opinion pieces, especially when it reinforces their view of the world, but if they found something hilarious, you can bet they’re going to share that with their network!

Aim for the (So Called) Sweet Spot…

Effective humour resides in the area between benign and offensive.  If you can successfully navigate to that area, you’ll have a lot more success with humour than otherwise.

So humour can be incredibly powerful, and can really help you to attract positive attention online, but at the same time there are risks if you move into the offensive side of things, so move forward with common sense.