Does Humor Help or Hinder?

bysedarby2019

576 followers

6 years ago

Given the fact that most on this site have an eye toward profits, of the monetary type, does humor help in the endeavor or does it hinder?

In my experience in the corporate world, using humor can be a two edged sword (kills with humor but then again offends some, but only if you do it right). There is always some who will not get your jokes especially when you are relying on print. No effective way to show inflection or a dropped tone. Find this can make a huge difference.

Context can also be important. For instance, I could say "This one does not work any more". Now depending on what is meant by "one" this could be interpreted as a clock does not work or be very racist. On the one hand, it could be funny if the premise whas about time and waiting for an important event but not so much if the premise was about your diverse neighborhood and that couple across the street who haven't mowed their yard and why since they don't work anymore.

I have had occasion (more than occasion actually since I work in IT) to work with a fairly diverse group from many different cultures. Some cultures can appreciate innuendo and idioms but some are so literal it hurts, I mean physically painful since every word you utter must be evaluated. You have to employ some pretty heavy duty filters to make sure (a) they get that you are not being serious and (b) that your boss understands that you are not being serious. Careers have ended over the wrong phrase, seen it happen, not to me personally but yes I have seen it happen.

Personally, I try to tread lightly when it comes to some remarks due to personal history. I believe there is a place for humor but in the written word it can be tough. Although I suppose you could preface a remark with <Sarcasm> words that could offend </Sarcasm> if you were talking to an audience that understood XML tags but for a literary group the tags would be misinterpreted as gibberish or worse, some sort of code for cursing or what not.

So, in the end, I believe humor used in the right context can be useful but it could also tank your site if not used sparingly. I have used humor in articles and found my engagement increase because when you try to be funny, everybody wants to join in or become extremely critical which can also be fun.

Oh yes, if you do decide to inject humor, please make sure you put on a couple extra layers of skin (in other words, be thick skinned) because the comments can be brutal at times.