Facebook Etiquette 101

Facebook. 

It's changed the way we communicate with our world and has provided us a platform to share the most precious moments of our lives as well as our personal/professional endeavors. Kudos.

But how often do you log into your facebook account to find yourself attached to information that has absolutely NOTHING to do with you?? How often does your phone vibrate with notifications about invitations to an event that is taking place in another state?? How often do you have to untag yourself from photos that you are NOT in?? Clearly, while facebook has many benefits to its existence and can be quite resourceful to anyone's personal and professional development, when it is misused, it causes its constituents to be frustrated, annoyed and extremely bothered by others' lack of consideration. 

Hence, I have put together this guideline outlining the Top 10 Things NOT to do on Facebook. Hopefully you'll read, share and help get the word out to your friends so that their activity on facebook doesn't annoy you any more. ;-)

Top 10 Things NOT to do on Facebook

1. DO NOT tag people in pictures that they are physically not in. I understand marketing your product or service with fliers and such however, at most, you should post the flier on an individual's wall so that they can determine whether or not they want to partake in whatever it is that you are offering. Be considerate.

2. When creating an event, don't "Select All" and invite your entire  friends list to your event. Invite the people that are first and foremost IN YOUR AREA. Unless your event is being marketed to a national audience, reduce your invitees to your local market. I know a lot of us think and dream big, and we tend to think that our events are significant enough for everyone in the world to attend but we all know, that isn't the case. You'll get more people to come or at least pay attention to your event if you invite the people who are RELEVANT to the event you are throwing. Be considerate.

3. DO NOT market your product or service by creating a massive message thread to your friends' list. This is probably the most annoying of all. What happens is, EVERY time someone responds within that message thread, EVERYONE included in it gets a notification. When there are 50 people included and all 50 of them are responding, the notifications are endless and quite annoying. Share your links by sending a personal message INDIVIDUALLY to your friends. This provides personal contact with your friends and helps them appreciate your time in reaching out directly to them for their opinion or sharing. Better yet post your link on YOUR OWN wall for your friends to see. This ends up helping you because when people see what you've shared on your own profile in their newsfeed, if they like what they see, it'll drive them to your profile to see what else you're doing and spark an interest in them to keep up with your endeavors. Be considerate.

4. When commenting on a status update, if your comment leads to a personal conversation with anyone else involved in or on that status, take the conversation directly to the person's wall or inbox. This also creates irrelevant and unnecessary notifications to others who may have commented on the status to express their like or dislike of whatever was posted. Be considerate.

5. DO NOT add anyone to ANY group without their expressed permission. PERIOD.

6. Concerning external applications, don't invite your friends just because you think you have to. Be cautious of the fact that because you may be interested in any of the thousands of applications there are on facebook, does NOT mean that your friends list will be interested in them as well. When you join or allow another application access to your information on facebook, the application always asks you to select whom of your friends you'd like to share the application with. Additionally, there is ALWAYS an option that says "Skip Invitations." Familiarize yourself with that option. Be considerate.

7. DO NOT tag people in posts or status updates that have nothing to do with them. Again, in marketing your event, product or service, post a link on YOUR OWN profile or at most on your strategically selected friend's profile to help get the word out about whatever it is you're offering. Be considerate.

8. It's your prerogative what you say in your own status updates but for the sake of facebook being a SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORK, be careful of the personal things you say and or expose about yourself and your life. Your business is not every or anyone else's. Never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned phone call or modern day text message to maintain some degree of privacy and integrity. Be considerate.

9. DO NOT friend request people you DO NOT know or have not met UNLESS you preface the request with a message indicating why you think the connect is necessary and/or relevant to both parties involved. Be considerate. 

10. Lastly for now, keep in mind that while YOUR facebook profile is YOURS indeed, EVERYTHING you say/do within this social networking site is a DIRECT reflection of the person you are. There is no hiding it. Everything you say, post, share, create, comment on etc. directly reflects who you are and how others perceive you. That's the point of SOCIAL NETWORKING. Be AWARE.

The most important lesson of this guideline is obviously to BE CONSIDERATE of your facebook friends. I know we tend to think that because what we're doing/sharing is the most important thing in OUR OWN world at any given time, that it'll be just as important to our friends and associates but realistically speaking... you know. 

By no means am I saying don't share your moments and endeavors with the people around you but I am encouraging all of us who share bits and pieces of our lives on facebook to BE CONSIDERATE in HOW we share what we share with our friends and network. I promise, if nothing else, you'll attract friends to your business or endeavors as opposed to annoying people and running them away, because you'll let them maintain the control of their own page. In the end, they'll also respect you more. ;-)

Hope this helps us all make more efficient use of our facebook profiles. 

***DISCLAIMER***

In the words of one of my favorite artists, "Don't be offended, this is all my opinion. Ain't nothing that I'm saying law..." ;-)  

~AlwaysAaronA~

www.twitter.com/AlwaysAaronA