Social Media Etiquette: Believe It Or Not There Is Such A Thing
There was a time not too long ago when people didn’t share as much as they do now with the rest of the world. Many of us went through our daily lives only staying in touch with people we truly valued and forgot about the ones that came through our lives and out as fast as revolving doors. Social media completely changed all that. All of the sudden, we were thrown back into reconnecting with people we hadn’t talk to in years and started inviting a whole new batch of people into our lives – aka our Facebook friends and Twitter followers.
With all the furious growth and change that is going on in the social media world, we as human beings are often just trying to keep up. We are filled with so much excitement about our ability to connect and reconnect with each other that we want to share all the details of our love lives, tragedies, excitements, thoughts, political beliefs, etc.
Well I’m here to tell you that there is such a thing as sharing too much information with people. Believe it or not, there comes a level of implied etiquette when you sign up on Facebook or Twitter, and many users forget to factor that into what they post or tweet. If you’re one of those people who often overshares on Facebook or Twitter, listen up! Here are the four things you should never discuss when using social media.
Relationships
It might be exciting and thrilling whenever you get into a new loving relationship, yet make sure to always keep the details of your love life personal. Sure, people don’t mind scrolling through your photo albums seeing pictures of you and your partner together, but the last thing they want to hear about is how much you love each other and can’t live without each other through status updates and tweets. Inevitably, there is a chance your relationship might not work out, and the last thing you want to do is make a fool of yourself for being so outspoken about something that didn’t last.
Personal struggles
Whenever you’re going through tough times, it might be tempting to tell the whole Facebook and Twitter world about it, but here is a harsh truth: people don’t want to hear about your personal problems. Facebook was intended to keep connected, not to dish out free group therapy sessions. Things like losing a job, going through a divorce, and filing for bankruptcy happen to a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean we should go around telling the world about our sorrows. Do your best to keep things like this off of Facebook because eventually you’ll get through those tough times and wonder why they were such a big deal in the first place. You don’t want a reminder of your unhappy days to be documented for you and the whole world to see.
Political Beliefs
It astounds me how many individuals find it necessary to share their political beliefs with the rest of the world. As if it isn’t bad enough that the mainstream media can’t say enough about it, Facebook and Twitter users have to chime in with their thoughts as well. Keep in mind, what you say about political candidates most likely isn’t going to change the way somebody feels about their established political beliefs, so keep it reeled in. It’s easy to get fired up about political candidates, especially when it’s this close to election time; however, by keeping your opinions to yourself, you’ll be able to stay out of some hectic social media rants.
Angry Rants
We all have bad days, but before the creation of Facebook and Twitter those bad days were normally things we kept to ourselves. In the moment, our anger can seem completely justified, but just remember that things will eventually cool down. If you are enraged about something, try not to get on Twitter and Facebook to tell the world about it. It may seem harmless at first, but the storm will eventually calm down and you might regret some things you say, especially if they are derogatory about a friend, your career, your love life, etc.
Before there was ever Facebook or Twitter, we embraced the expected normalcies that came along with human interaction. Do yourself a huge favor and remember these four rules of social media etiquette whenever you log on to Facebook or Twitter.
Nadia Jones is an education blogger for an online education website and a freelance writer on all things academia. Nadia uses the written word to share her knowledge on accredited online college education and the latest news in the educational world. Though Nadia’s mind is always preoccupied with topics of education, she spends her downtime volunteering with middle school students and pitching for her adult softball team. She can be reached at nadia.jones5@gmail.com.
