Let's Talk

Let's talk about social media etiquette, shall we?

This is a blog I've been wanting to write for a long time because some things bother me.  Some things bother a lot of social-media-savvy people.  I've been formulating my social media etiquette rules in my head.  Now it's time to write them down.

1. Thou shall not tag oneself in someone's picture, if thou were not there.  
Seriously, this is just not right.  Why is it not right?  Because, you were not THERE.  See, when you tag people in your picture, it says they *were there*.  I don't want a bunch of pictures that says so-and-so was there, when in fact you weren't.  Because it confuses me.  It makes me think back to the event, and think, "huh, they weren't even there"... see?  If you want my picture to show up in your procession of pics, then take my picture and SHARE it yourself, and then tag yourself in YOUR own picture.  That way it doesn't confuse MY history.  That's what FaceBook is all about--you can Share anyone's picture.  That is a socially acceptable action.

2. Thou shall not scream all the time.  
If you were not aware that TYPING IN ALL CAPS MEANS THAT YOU ARE SCREAMING AT THE AUDIENCE, let me share a little secret with you.  ALL CAPS = Yelling.  It's one of the few ways you have of conveying your feelings through the written word.  also, always typing in lower case is the opposite.  all lower case is like, whispering.  so please, use case appropriately.  If you are excited, by all means, SHOUT AT THE WORLD.  If you are sharing a secret, whisper all you want... just realize, there is a difference.  If you are typing on your phone, I'm going to be very forgiving on this rule.  But if I see all caps from you All.  The.  Time.  Then I'm going to skip right past anything you have to say because I can't handle the drama.  As long as you know that if you shout, I'm NOT going to read what you have to say, we're all good.

3. Thou shall think about using Spellchecker.  
Use it or not, it's up to you.  If I had a choice to hear from my friends who do not use spell check, or not hear from them at all, I'd choose no spell check because I want to hear from them.  I can be flexible, but please see rules #1 and #2, which I have a very hard time overlooking.

4.  Thou shall think about proof reading.  
It really does not take but an extra minute to just re-read what you just typed before you click the submit/post button.  That damn spell check will get you when you least expect it.  But, if you proof read, then you'll catch it before I do.  And rest assured that I will.  It's just part of my nature.

5.  Thou shall not abuse the exclamation point!  
Because using it for every sentence!  Lessens the impact you mean to convey!  When proof reading, just think to yourself if using an exclamation point for every single sentence is appropriate.  When excited about a topic, I really have to watch myself on this one.  I always re-read a sentence and ask myself if that particular sentence was worthy of the ending.  If not, it gets a period.  End of sentence.  Reserve the ! for the closure to particularly meaningful sentences.

As long as you aren't committing #1 or #2, I can be flexible and understanding.

I just had to get this out there in writing, because I believe some people relatively newer to social media just don't understand some of the unwritten "rules" that more seasoned social-media-savvy people take for granted.  And if nobody tells you, how would you know?!?  The sad part is that the people I really want to read this probably *never* will, because they don't even know about this little blog.  But if any of this helps someone else arbitrarily, then perhaps it is serving a purpose.  

If you think I'm just too whiny and your opinions differ, I'm good with that too.  Communicating vs. not communicating = It is my opinion that it is better to communicate even while violating the 5 rules above... but that's an entirely separate post for another time to whine about non-communication.

Thanks for reading!