10 things I wish you’d clue in about Facebook Etiquette….

Facebook has to be one of the biggest time vampires out there.  And with this sort of ‘virtual social interaction‘ there are ‘virtual social morons.’  Here are some guidelines.

1. My status updates aren’t writtten directly to you personally.  If I say “Seasons greetings to everyone” or something similar, keep in mind I’m wishing this to everyone.  You don’t need to comment with “Thank you.”

2. The wall is visible to all my friends - and your comments are probably visible to all my friends.  If you have something to say to me that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) needs to see, then the wall is a good place.  “Congrats on that new baby.” Don’t write things like “Is your boss still being a dick?” “What time are you coming over?” or “Hope your diarrhea has stopped.”  This is what EMAIL is for.  The kid I went to 8th grade with does NOT need to read about my diarrhea problems.  Think to yourself “Do the 100 people on their list and the 100 people on my list REALLY need to read this?”   When I noticed that my wall had hit 100 postings, and 50 of them were from one person I decided to remove that person from my wall.

3. Status update.  Make it meaningful.  Make it newsworthy. If you feel like crap and you write “I feel like crap.” that might be news once.  Daily?  No.  I don’t need to read the news feed and find out that you are tired - again.  Most importantly, make it about you.  I don’t give a crap if your neighbour’s cat is recovering from emergency hairball removal surgery.

4. Photos.  Edit them first. 10 pictures of the cat playing with a toy, 5 of them blurry?  Pick one good one and put it on.

5. Comments.  Not every damn thing deserves a comment.  Don’t need to write “Great Pic” under every picture.   Pick a good one, that’s it.  Note:  Leaving one ‘Great Pic’ comment daily doesn’t solve this problem.  It just causes irritation over multiple days.

6. Virtual enabling. Facebook is a great place to find enablers.  “I feel sick today.” Be prepared for “Oh you poor thing!” from your favourite enabler.  More importantly look back at your status postings.  Are you a negative person or a complainer?  No?  All denial aside, are you a negative person?  Negativity is an easy disease to catch.  Don’t want that person on my list.

7. Inviting me for an application.  Guess what, you like Scrabulous, but you don’t need to get me playing it or the 50 other things you play.  That easily gets you the ‘BLOCK ALL INVITES FROM THIS FRIEND’

8.  Chat attack.  Don’t try to chat with me every time I appear online, especially if you have nothing to say.

9. Unfriending someone after a disagreement.  Well, we are humans and we have different perspectives.  Remove me from the friends list and consider it permanent.

10. My news is my news. If I’m pleased about an accomplishment I’m putting it here for people on my list to see. You don’t need to start posting my news elsewhere for your friends to see.

Overall, things are about balance.