Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of vague posting on social media. Almost none of it, however, has been because I was upset or venting. (Based on an informal assessment over the past year, most of it has been references to books/movies without sufficient context.)
Context is infinite and providing enough context to create understanding but not so much as to be burdensome is sometimes a delicate balance. Some people also want more context than others and what one person considers to be sufficient may not be to someone else.
Most vaguebooking, however, is a form of indirect communication and passive aggression. Something is confusing or annoying or upsetting you and you would like it to change but are unable or unwilling to communicate this directly to those involved. Perhaps you want validation. Perhaps you, on some level, hope that others involved in the situation see what you wrote and feel bad about their behavior.
One of the main forms of vaguebooking is venting, which I affectionately call Yelling Into The Void, can feel good and relieve stress in the short term especially on social media where you can receive support/validation. Except social media is not a void and there can be long term consequences for the vaguebookee and their social networks.
An aspect of being accountable in community is examining your behavior and how it impacts others. When someone seems upset and is vaguebooking about it, taking a quick inventory of your behavior to determine if you may have contributed can be an important piece of this.
While this can be taken to an extreme (not every post is about you) it is a socially connected response to not want to cause harm to others and to have a moment of anxiety, and an urge to soothe, when someone you care about is upset. Of course not everyone does this reflecting or has this urge. Some will immediately assume it is referring to someone/thing else and rush to support the vaguebookee (to humorous effect if the post is, in fact, about them).
Each of these responses have consequences in connected networks. When someone has a pattern of making vague posts it can create social anxiety with others they interact with, including a fear that at some point the posts will be about them, and a feeling of unease in the relationship or a desire to not interact closely with the person posting. With frequent posts it can cause burn out in the shared community and a lack of care over time. Without specific information regarding the situation, those who would support the vaguebookee may make assumptions about what caused the post and create social ripples based on those (possibly incorrect) assumptions. In most situations, because no direct communication has been made, the vaguebookee will not be able to resolve the situation, subsequent problems and further resentments are likely which can continue to ripple, unresolved, within the larger community. Further contributing to this, it is very rare for someone to update the shared community if/when the situation has been resolved, thus leading the shared community to have a skewed perception of the situation and those involved.
While a desire to vaguebook is fairly ubiquitous, especially with the rise of social media as a primary means of social connection for many, making an effort to be aware of, and mitigate, the potential impacts can help to reduce strife in shared community. Being clear with yourself about what you are hoping to get out of it before posting may bring light to other options which would be more likely to bring about the desired results.
References:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/imbecilic-art-vaguebooking/
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/5-reasons-vaguebooking-destroying-your-relationships.html
https://www-psychologytoday-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/passive-aggressive-diaries/201403/7-reasons-why-people-use-passive-aggressive-behavior?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fus%2Fblog%2Fpassive-aggressive-diaries%2F201403%2F7-reasons-why-people-use-passive-aggressive-behavior
