Ground Rules for Good Social Media Etiquette

With websites like Facebook and Twitter more popular than ever, more people are using social networking sites to meet new people, keep in touch with old friends, and share their experiences with the world. Of course, as we’ve written about extensively on the ReputationDefender Blog before, the same rules that apply to regular social interaction are not always adhered to online.

For instance, would you tell a close friend about how drunk you got on St. Patrick’s Day? Maybe. Would you shout it so that anyone in the immediate area could hear to? Probably not. Despite this, however, on Facebook, and other social networking sites, users constantly post messages, updates, photos, and videos of behavior that they wouldn’t want exhibited anywhere else. More and more, this material can come back and hurt an individual later in life.

So what’s the way to prevent your online reputation from spiraling out of control? According to a recent report from MSNBC.com, the right thing to do is learn good social media etiquette. In other words, act the same way online that you act in real life.

From the article:

Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can seem like the Wild West — anything goes. But even with the access and enormity of the Web, the rules you once learned on the playground still apply.

“There has been a major cultural shift in the way we communicate and document our social lives in recent years, but we have not been taught digital or online manners,” says Jo Bryant, an advisor for U.K.-based etiquette authority Debrett’s, which added a section on social networking etiquette to their “A-Z of Modern Manners” in early 2008.

The No. 1 rule? Treat others with kindness and respect, Debrett’s advises.

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