In the summer Kim Kardashian West suggested Twitter make a very useful change. She asked for the option to edit tweets once they've been sent so that you don't have to delete the whole tweet and post it again. Twitter's co-founder responded positively to this practical idea. And it got me thinking. There's so much we'd probably like to change about social media, but not having the influence of Kim K it probably won't happen.
Nevertheless this list is all about the annoying and embarrassing stuff that social media gets wrong and I'm sure we would all love to be improved. What's with all the sexist policies? Why do we have to face the pure embarrassment of an accidental like? And wouldn't it be amazing to have a professional writer to post some wonderfully witty remarks for you?
Let us hear your ideas in the comments below. What do you wish you could do on social media?
15 Speak the truth
If you said what you were really thinking about people's statuses and photos then you would probably lose a few friends and hurt some feelings. Wouldn't it be fun though, just for a day at least? The next time a foodie posts a photo you could comment, “Nobody gives a crap what you had for lunch.” Somebody sends out a status about their upcoming exotic holiday, “Yes, you have succeeded in making everybody jealous, aren't you a great person!” And when people post photos of their kids, “I've already seen 20 pictures of kids on their first day of school. I don't care and I really wish you all would just stop.”
14 Remove all traces of accidental likes
No matter how stealthily you move your thumbs when stalking somebody it's inevitable that you will accidentally like a post at some point or another. Sometimes it's OK and you can just brush it off. Sometimes it's horribly cringeworthy, like when you're 37 weeks into your crush's Instagram photos and you heart it, or when somebody posts a tragic status and you give them the thumbs up. Awks! So what we really need is some time to delete accidental likes before the recipient receives notice of your terrible mistake. What I mean by delete is to have a five minute window that will allow you time to take back the like and avoid any notification ever being sent.
13 Check all apps for drunk dials/posts at once
It's one of the worst feelings in the world when you wake up with a hangover, a patchy memory and a gut-wrenching fear that you may have done something you shouldn't have. This could involve drunken-you sending out pictures of debauchery or too-personal tweets. It could involve inappropriate Facebook messages, there are limitless embarrassing things you could have done. But when you get up the morning after you have to check about eight apps to be sure you haven't done something silly. So it would be amazing to have a way to check everything at once so that you can breathe a sigh of relief or get to work on damage control.
12 Pretend you've accepted a friend request without really accepting it
If somebody from work or college or the bar, who you don't really know that well or you're not such a big fan of, adds you on Facebook you face a serious dilemma. If you accept they get to see all of your biz and then there's the fact that you're pretty much obliged to talk to them IRL from now on because you're Facebook friends. If you don't accept then it's super awkward the next time you see them. Yes, you can put people on limited profile but it's usually pretty obvious when you accept their friend request but they can't see any of your photos or wall. We really need some way of avoiding this awkwardness.
11 Have all trolls banned straight away
So celebrities can read mean tweets and have a lol about it because they're still rich, beautiful and successful. But for the average person it's not so easy to ignore the haters. Cyber bullies and trolls can send a barrage of hatred somebody's way before anything can be done about it. For those reading the comments on their photos or YouTube videos it can be absolutely devastating, even if you thought you had a thick skin. It would be great to have some sort of troll-detecting software banishing the bullies in order to stop people getting hurt. Or maybe we just need to stick up for one another a bit more?
10 Remove all traces of something embarrassing forever
Once you hit send that's it. Your post is out there for the world to see. But if you end up regretting that post later you're absolutely screwed. Celebrities get hung out to dry for embarrassing and offensive posts all the time. Even if they delete their tweet or Instagram pic the world still knows about it. It only takes one screenshot and then it's saved for eternity. The same goes for the average Joe too, anybody's posts can go viral. It might be a good thing in some instances if the person in question needs to learn a lesson. But we're only human, we all make mistakes. So it would be great if we lived in some magical world where we could take back our social media fails.
9 See through the fake posts
It's really easy to envy people on Instagram who seem to be living the dream. They're slim and gorgeous, spend their days lazing on the beach and have really cool friends etc. But is this the reality? Probably not. If we could see the undoctored images or even the whole frame there might be a different story to tell. An Instagram model recently quit social media and spoke out publicly on the fakery involved. She claims that very little of what you see on an Instagram It Girl's account is real. Maybe it would be better if we saw more realistic posts like the ones from this comedian who posts pictures of herself eating marshmallows and boozing.
8 Find Tinder people on Facebook so you can see what they're actually like
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When you're swiping your way through Tinder you know that these people are definitely on Facebook. But usually you only have a first name to work with so won't be able to find their actual Facebook accounts. If you've been chatting to someone for a while it would be so useful to be able to see their page. This is because, first of all, people only stick a few of their hottest pictures on Tinder. Whereas on Facebook, you would get to see a range of pics and therefore if they're actually fugly in real life or not. Plus, you would be able to get a glimpse into their personality via their statuses and groups. So you could find out whether they're normal or say a sexist pig or something.
7 Not know that somebody has read your messages
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It's a frickin killer when you message somebody, they read it and don't reply. They might have read it and forgotten to reply sure. But in your head they've chosen not to reply and it makes you want to scream. It's pretty bad if you're telling a friend something important. It's dire if you're trying to speak to a crush or somebody you're dating. I'd rather not know and think that they haven't read the message yet, rather than accept the painful idea that they've read your message and don't care enough to respond.
6 Have a professional writer on hand
There's nothing worse than when you send out a jokey tweet or status and it flops. You get one like and it's from your aunt and you cringe so bad. In this case it would be so amazing to have a professional writer to write your jokes for you just like TV hosts have. They could produce reams of witty, smart comments for you. You could become a comedic sensation. Did you know that lots of celebrities don't write their own posts and tweets? They have ghost writers who they pay to write the clever stuff for them.
5 Stop the rants
This is a real pet peeve of mine and one of the reasons why I stopped checking my Facebook feed for a while. There are always a few people who use social media as a platform to rant about everything and anything. Nobody asked for their opinion but they feel the need to share it publicly. A lot of the time though these kinds of people write things about which they know nothing and are almost always offensive. For example, it's usually somebody who attended the “University of Life” who rants about “lazy college students”. And that's a mild example. When will these people be stopped?
4 Reverse the sexist rules
It seems that social media places the same sexist restrictions on women as elsewhere in society. Over the past couple of years people have become more and more aware of this problem and have begun to fight back. For instance, a photographer posted a photo to Instagram of a woman in bed with a period stain and it was removed twice before Instagram faced a public backlash. A #freethenipple campaign was also launched in which women photoshopped images of men's nipples over their own to highlight sexist social media policies. Get with the times!
3 Have a warning message for things we don't want to see
There's lots of stuff we really just don't want to see on social media. People often get away with posting really gross and graphic images. People also feel the need to post spoilers about our favourite TV shows before we've had the chance to watch the latest episode. Another thing we don't want to see are photos of our ex or our crush stupidly happy with their significant other. So it would be cool if social media sites could censor this kind of stuff for us or at least have a message pop up that says, “Don't scroll down. You really don't want to see this girl!”
2 Have a search function for our own stuff
This is really just a practical point. I noticed the need for a search function recently when I was trying to find an old tweet in which I'd linked to a band's soundcloud page so that I could show a friend. I couldn't find it. I was scrolling for ages but still no luck! If you post regularly on social media then there's tons of crap to get through before you find that important picture or that link or that tweet. Somebody tell Kim K, she'll be able to get it fixed.
1 Be able to transport ourselves via social media
Social media has its pros and cons. One of the major plus points is that you're able to communicate with others all around the world. You can stay in touch with friends and relatives easily. Now this is a wacky idea, wouldn't it be awesome if you could travel through social media to actually be with that other person? There's no substitute for seeing your long-distance friend or partner in the flesh. I think scientists should get to work on a new form of travel, something a bit like the floo network from Harry Potter but with social media.
Sources: sbs.com.au, buzzfeed.com, mashable.com, mashable.com
