Real talk, I don't think you can separate their social media life from their real one. So you have to take their real life behavior as their true self and their social media persona as the fake one.
These are some basic rhetorical questions I ask myself and then I proceed to observe the person (if possible) to determine if they do in fact "mean well".
Full Disclosure: I'm at the point in my life now where I don't think white people can be allies. It goes against their nature to feel anything other than superior to anyone and everyone that isn't white. But I have respect for my black brothers and sisters who do see a John Brown in some of them.
- How many black friends do they have?
- they support black communities and black businesses but have no black friends on social media or in real life - IMO probably virtue signaling
- if they do have black friends they are people they friended online only and never met irl - IMO probably virtue signaling here too.
- if they do have black friends in real life they are usually mixed race and mixed race black people's experience with racism is vastly different because of their lighter skin - Now this isn't the white person's fault as where they live and other situations factor in to the people they meet, but I feel like this is probably virtue signaling because they're using the black part of that person to "invisibility cloak" themselves as "see I'm not racist, here's my black friend" when the truth is they're friends with them because they take comfort in knowing that person is also white like they are.
- When they throw parties and either your invitation feels like it was an after-thought or you're the only black person there - probably virtue signaling.
- How do they handle getting corrected for saying or doing something racially inappropriate or insensitive in front of their black friends?
- If they get defensive and don't take the time to listen to where their black friends are coming from - they've been virtue signaling this whole time.
- How do they handle being told that someone they're related to or are friends with said or did something racially inappropriate or insensitive in front of their black friends? - Basically, what type of people do they 4uck with when you're not around
- See the response for rhetorical question #2.
- Are they consistent or are they only supportive when it's popular?
- If the only time you see or hear them talk about race and the issues behind it is when it's the current news topic but you don't ever feel like they're someone you can talk to personally about your own experiences - MFs are virtue signaling.
Now these are MY key questions I ask, but as you can see, it's really hard to judge someone's authenticity online without seeing how they live when they click "log off". So best practice is to treat them online the way we're treated in real life: Guilty (of Virtue Signaling in the first degree) until proven innocent (on all charges).
Sorry I wrote a novel. I do that sometimes. forgive me fam.