I think we've all been guilty of posting a few things that maybe went a little too far. I for one am a sharer, and have in the past given more details than necessary, that type of thing. But lately I see so many things posted on FB (sorry, I'm not a twitterer) and other social medias that just make me go hummmm. Surprised by what folks say or pictures they share. Maybe some tips are in order, so I've started a list and asked others to share their ideas too!
We have been taught a saying in the corporate world, if you have to ask yourself if it's ok, it probably isn't and you should refrain. This applies to the clothing you choose to wear to the office, the things you should or should not say during a conference call or in an email. I think it could apply in social media too.
1) Blasting. Talking badly about your family, especially your significant other. Leave that at home or for the counselor's office! Unless it's satire or you're sharing a funny instance that happened, the whole world doesn't need to know that today you think your husband is a careless, lazy, insensitive whatever and you should get divorced. The same goes for your siblings, your children, your parents, cousins, etc, etc etc. Get the picture?
2) Inappropriate pictures or foul language. We don't need to see pictures of you or a friend flipping the bird, making obscene gestures, you in your underwear, or your tongue down someone's throat. You also don't need to curse in all your posts. Grow up. It paints a nice picture of the type of attention you are seeking and it's not a good one.
3) Battle wounds. For me personally, I have a weak/queasy stomach. If you just came out of surgery or suffered an injury and want to post about it fine, but save the picture for the comments section so I don't have to see a gaping wound or a thousand staples as I'm scrolling through my feed. And give a warning! I could be in a waiting room scrolling through and suddenly pass out from your grotesque picture, or worse yet, sitting at one of those never ending red lights behind the wheel of a car. Yeah please, just don't. You may not think it's that bad, but I do.
4) Hashtags. I'm not entirely sure their purpose (again I don't tweet) but if the number of hashtags you have is longer than the number of words in your post, you might be missing the point of posting?
5) Begging. Begging for people to help you, consistently. I don't think it's a problem to ask for a prayer or share a friend's gofundme site recovering from a devastating whatever. I'm talking about the person who every single week post something about can't someone do this for me? Can someone watch my kids? Can someone bring me this or that? Can someone help me with my laundry? Can someone build me this or make this for me? Can someone give me this? (I'm not talking about people willing to pay for things, these are folks who actually want others to just do for them all the time and are not kidding about it.) I have bitten my tongue many times by not replying: "Can you not do anything for yourself??"
6) Whining. Pity Party. Woe is me. Victim. If more than once a month (or maybe twice, idk what the right/wrong amount here is, we ALL have our moments but...) you rant or rave about who or how wronged you've been, you might fall in to this category. Start analyzing why you find yourself in that type of situation so often.
7) Hijacking. Commenting on someone else's post a contrary belief and being rude or degrading about it or trying to get them to change their mind, ideals, etc. If you don't like what they post on their wall, move on and if you need to, counter post on your own wall. Don't go off on their post and if you do, expect your comments to get deleted.
8) Backseat parenting. Replying to a mother's post on how they should or shouldn't be doing something with their child. This one comes up for me a lot. Unless the parent directly ASKS for advice or tips, you don't need to share. You can say if you need help with that let me know, been there and good luck. But for the love of God do not tell a parent what they should feed their child, what they shouldn't feed their child, what time they should put their kid to bed, or any other things that remotely sounds like hey, I'm better at this than you so here's what I would do if I were you. (This goes the same for giving advice to a pregnant woman, unless they ask, just don't.)
9) Fishing. This is a step down from #2. If you're fishing for attention, we can all read right through that. Posts like: "my life sucks", "if you only knew what I was going through right now", "it's over", "I can't believe they did this to me", "I'm so (insert negative descriptive word here)". Anyway, there's many scenarios. If your post leaves 99% of the readers to ask themselves "what is going on?" then you're probably fishing. For attention. There are people that get paid to listen to that. I don't.
10) Privacy. Don't tell other's people's business on FB. It's probably none of your business and definitely isn't anyone else's. And if someone is having a baby, announcing an engagement, marriage, divorce, death in family, WHATEVER, that is for THAT person to share and not you.
No comments:
Post a Comment