Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Social Media Etiquette

I love social media.

You're probably thinking, "thank you, Captain Obvious!" huh? 

I mean, I am a blogger, facebooker, tweeter, instagrammer & pinner. I'm pretty much the jack of all trades related to social media so it seems pretty obvious that I love it. 

However, there's one thing I don't like about it & that is the fact that sometimes we see manners as null & void when it comes to social media.

I'm guilty, I know, of breaking some of the etiquette rules when it comes to Facebook or Twitter & that's because social media is just so easy, I think I can speak for all of us & say we almost do it without thinking.

But the shock of the year is that feelings can be hurt when we don't put some thought into what we're saying or doing online.

So, I've made a little list of things we should all think about before we post it on these social media sites:

1. Would I want this picture of me on broadcast for everyone to see?

2. Did I tell all the people who are important in this situation the news before I broke it to everyone on Facebook/Twitter?

3. Would I say this to the person's face?

4. Am I making a blanket statement that is actually directed at one person?

5. Have I asked to share this person's information/video/pictures on my site?

6. How would I feel if this was posted about me?

I once heard a story of a girl who found out one of her relatives had died on Facebook before anyone else told her. 

That is not okay.

And I know she's not the only one that has had that happen to them.

So simply think ... before you hit publish or share - it will save a lot of hurt.

Any rules you'd like to ad?
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so very true, thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a refreshing blog post about social media netiquette. I am guilty of bad netiquette on occasion and try not to get irritated by newbies and trolls. Your awesome, thanks for sharing!

Haley said...

I love this! Thanks for the post, Ali!