Avoid any threats on social media!

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Even if you’re confident that a post won’t be interpreted as a threat, you’ll still think twice about making a borderline post if your fate depends on prosecutorial discretion and an expensive and possibly dicey jury trial.

It bears noting that even if Elonis dodged a criminal threat conviction, his social media posts could still cost him his job, contribute to a restraining order, and alienate his family. In other words, even if we have the legal right to make edgy social media posts, we will remain accountable for our words in many other ways.

Reference: When Does Social Media Chatter Become Criminal? Previewing The Supreme Court's 'Elonis' Case.

Forbes contributor Eric Goldman illuminates the legal ramifications of what we post on social media, especially threatening words.  We know by know that some people use the internet as a forum for spewing the very dire, ugly and hateful that well inside their little hearts, and they engage others in vicious repartee in kind.  Impassioned debate or constructive argument is one thing, but I simply advise against engaging in something that would not pass muster even in minimally polite company.  Even more strongly, I advise against any semblance of threat onto others, property and animals on social media.  If you must vent, do so in your private journal, that is, offline or do so via constructive means like exercise, sports or games.