Social Media: Friend or Foe?

I'm opinionated, I'm outspoken and I have a tendency to get myself into sticky situations because of this. However, these very traits are also why I've been so successful in getting my family's anti-bullying message highly publicized. So take it or leave it, it's just the way I am. I do try to think before I act, but more often than not, I act before I think. Then I do a little back pedaling and fix whoever's feathers I happened to ruffle. And this is the situation that I found myself in this week.

I found a particular situation to be extremely frustrating from a financial standpoint but when it boiled over to affecting my child, Mama Bear was Unleashed something fierce. What did I do? I shared my feelings via social media. What happened? They weren't happy.

Now I have apologized for personally offending anyone through my actions, however I won't apologize for standing up for my child who was an innocent bystander. Because that's what Mama Bear's do.

So this leaves the question...is it ok to share our opinions via social media when we feel we are getting bad service? I would say yes because in this day and age, that's how information is shared and companies do need to be held accountable for the service they provide. Often times, we want to protect others from dealing with the same inconveniences that we had to. However, if we are just doing it to "get back" at someone for wronging us, that's probably not the most effective way to get the resolution we want.

Have you had a similar situation? How did you handle it? Did you get the results you wanted or did it just make things worse? What do you think this teaches us about modeling behavior to our children that encourages them to stand up and speak out when something is wrong, but to also know where to draw the line? I would love to hear your stories, opinions and suggestions!