There are a number of behaviours that I find quite disturbing on Facebook, Instagram and other online contacts and friends, in the way they comment, react and post to my personal profile and business pages.
So here we go people, some tips points and responsibilities you need to consider before hitting the keys.
Facebook is a fabulous way to reconnect and keep in touch with friends and family, but it can turn into a nightmare for your professional or social life. Respect, common sense (unfortunately somewhat uncommon) and a sense of responsibility can benefit everyone.
Friends, Following & Friending
While users can ask just about anyone to be their friend on Facebook (unless their settings make them completely private), whether or not they will be accepted is another question. We all have many reasons for accepting or ignoring friendship requests and page like, those that choose to ignore them should not be harassed or thought badly of. Don't overthink their reasons, simply move on.
DON'T:
be offended if someone does not reply to a friend request or page like request. They may prefer to keep their group of friends and page follows to a very limited few or keep work and social lives separate, along with many other reasons.
ask someone to be your friend more than once.
friend someone who you are not comfortable seeing your photos or hearing about your daily life.
friend someone, especially younger Facebook users, if your content would be inappropriate for their age group.
make friend requests of your friends' friends if you don't know them, the number of online friends you have IS NOT a competition.
DO:
reserve friending for people you truly care about and are interested in, it's not about keeping score of your popularity.
A common concern of new Facebook users is if someone who is friended can then be deleted later without them knowing. The answer is no, the friend is not notified. However, they may notice their number of friends has dropped by one. If they have many other friends, they may never even figure out who "unfriended" them.
Photos and Tagging on Facebook
The best way to keep control of photos is to adjust the settings on Facebook, found in the upper right hand corner of the home page. The settings allow any photos tagged of a person to be visible only to that person, and not all their friends. This is the best way to keep embarrassing drunken party pics from threatening someone's job.
DON'T:
tag photos of your friends on Facebook that could get them in trouble.
tag your friends in unflattering photos. Tagging photos of friends dressed in old 80's fashions and with bad perms can be funny, but tagging a picture of them taken last week with food between their teeth is not so funny.
DO:
use Facebook to share photos of vacations, kids, and new events in your life, rather than stuffing their e-mail inbox with the pics.
add a profile picture of yourself so searchers know which "Brad Jones" is the right Brad Jones.
Etiquette
The rules for good Social Media etiquette are the same rules that apply to any online communications and real life. Common courtesy, decency and good manners all apply to Facebook as well.
DON'T:
type something you wouldn't say in real life. You shouldn't hide behind a computer and say hurtful things that you wouldn't dream of saying to someone's face.
share something on your page or in your status that you don't want everyone on your Friend list to know.
share identifying information such as your address or telephone number.
feel obligated to add applications because friends sent them to you.
type in all caps unless you really mean to shout, otherwise it's just annoying and becomes tedious quickly.
DO:
use Facebook messaging for sharing more private things.
choose those who already have an application to interact with for those applications that you also wish to participate in.
be careful what you post. While it's okay to vent, remember that if you are venting about your boss, just because he or she is not on your friend list does not mean it won't get back to them somehow.
keep any information learned about your co-workers on Facebook to yourself at the office.
be careful of your tone. It can be hard to tell when people are joking or being sarcastic.
Facebook can be a great tool, just remember to use common sense and follow the golden rule:
TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED!
Be kind, courteous & considerate, in groups, business pages and in person!
