It really doesn’t matter what social network you happen to enjoy browsing or reading. The same rules apply to each and every one. Whether you prefer to shoot out short missives of 140 characters or less on twitter or whether you’d prefer to engage in multiple paragraph status updates on Facebook being nice, kind and considerate matter.
Here are a few hard and fast rules to get you going if you’re new to the internet or just want to a refresher course reference what good online etiquette entails.
Bibliography
“The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook.” Techipedia.com. 10 Dec. 2008. 23 Oct. 2015. <techpedia.com/2008/social-media=etiquette-handbook>.
Citations, Quotes & Annotations
(“The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook”)
Here are a few hard and fast rules to get you going if you’re new to the internet or just want to a refresher course reference what good online etiquette entails.
- ALL CAPS IS A NO-NO! – In the world of social media anytime a user employs all caps the implication is that they are yelling. I have a friend who types everything in all caps because he says he can’t be bothered to use the shift key for every word. People are always telling him to calm down online or asking him why he’s so upset. If you want to be seen as a rational, calm, even-tempered person online, lay off the caps lock.
- Inviting people to play online games – In the online world it’s very easy to connect with people. You can send an email or an instant message and they immediately get the message. Think of inviting people to play online games as though you might be going to their front door and asking them to play. If you knock on the door once or twice, it’s a pleasant visit from a friend. If you knock on the door five or ten times, it can quickly become very annoying! Less is more here guys!
- Using your social media account as a platform to build your business or rally support for a cause – It goes without saying here that this isn’t something you want to lean too heavily on. Making a status update about raising money for cancer awareness and inviting friends to participate is fine, but making repeated status updates with the same message all day, every day for a week doesn’t make people happy they added you to their social network.
- Repeating information you learned about someone online in the real world – Think twice before spreading or gossiping about information you read on a social network. It’s common sense. If you had a hard day at work because your boss seemed clueless, you probably don’t want someone to go back and tell your boss you said they were acting clueless on a social network.
- Remember to always be kind – This is probably one of the most ignored rules of social media etiquette, but it’s actually one of the most important. Your online persona is a representation of who you are as a person, your beliefs, your desires, your demeanor, etc. It’s on you to make sure that picture is a good one. Racism, slander and blatant abuse have no place under the social media etiquette umbrella just as they do not in real life. It can be very easy to fire off a message or update which could get you in more trouble than you hoped for. Think before you say something unkind, mean spirited or acidic.
Bibliography
“The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook.” Techipedia.com. 10 Dec. 2008. 23 Oct. 2015. <techpedia.com/2008/social-media=etiquette-handbook>.
Citations, Quotes & Annotations
(“The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook”)