Upon checking your notification bar after waking up, with your utmost irritation, you figure out that one of your Facebook friends tagged you along with 78 other friends on his picture.
No wonder this little circumstance can cause a huge impact on your mood as you will be flooded with notifications because of that tag.
We often forget that it is, in no way, less important to show etiquettes to your close acquaintance on Facebook like it is in real life.
There are certain etiquettes one must keep in mind while interacting with other users to avoid embarrassment or irritating others.
Friend wisely
At the very beginning of the social media era, individuals had a tendency to send friend requests to everyone regardless of known or unknown. There used to be some sort of competition among youngsters regarding having a bigger friend-list.
But that’s not cool anymore, particularly privacy issues are on the line. It might make you speculate why a certain Angel Sadia sent you a friend request, a profile that seems fake. Just like you, others will feel the same.
But when you can’t help sending a request to an unfamiliar person, make sure to drop a personal message of introduction. Try drawing a thin line between your personal and professional life.
Quid Pro Quo
If your friends or acquaintances follow you, just be sure that you follow them back. It’s just the tiniest way you can make them feel special - the famous Instagram rule #Follow4Follow.
Don’t ask someone to follow you or like your picture. However, if someone likes your photo, you can do the same for them.
If someone tweets something good about you, make sure to repay them in the selfsame way. And if your friend comments on your picturesque landscape, make notes to appreciate their next posts.
Don’t Like Your Own Post
While gossiping on social media, the action we often giggle at is someone liking or reacting to his/her own post.
There is no harm in liking your own post but it seems quite egomaniacal and tends to kick off rendezvous from your friend list. Not to mention the embarrassment you gain from those who notice your own likes.
Liking your own post doesn’t change anything rather portray a despondent and objectionable connotation to others.
Asking for reaction, comments, share or shoutout, or group invitation
The basic social media etiquette is not to beg for likes and comments. In this Covid era, when all the contests are being held online, our friends often ask us to drop a like or comment on their posts.
You may be thinking - yes why not, what are friends for? However, if your post is worth winning or gaining attention, it will achieve that on its own merit, right?
And jumping on asking for a share is the last thing you would want to do as most people don't like posting much on their timeline.
And the never-ending group invitation is another headache. Just sum up the number of group invitations you had during the shutdown and you will realise why you shouldn’t randomly invite people.
Cautious Posting and Tagging
Like we said in the first portion about indiscriminate tagging, make sure never ever tag anyone if they aren’t attending the photo.
If you tag people randomly in your post, it won’t bring you extra dozens of likes but will cost you losing 6 of your friends.
Give Credit to Exact Sources
What if you took an awestruck picture or wrote a tremendous article and a friend of yours just saved or copied your post and got enormous reactions and credit. You would preferably like to punch his face, no?
That’s how others will withstand it when you do the same. Try to post with a proper source of how you got the post.
While reposting photos, quotes or videos from other users, remember to mention them. Ask for permission from the author before sharing, otherwise, copyright claims can get you behind the bars.
Also, not giving a proper reference is a bad practice that might bring you public embarrassment. Think how embarrassing it could be when someone comments on one of your copied posts regarding the original source
Bad social media etiquettes can end up making you a grumpy boomer. Let others not cringe at your presence in their social sphere.
