Facebook makes it simple to keep in contact with old pals from high school, post amusing pictures from family vacations, and send all your friends a happy birthday without spending money on a stamp. However, there is a drawback: When you’re set in front of a computer screen, it’s simple to mess up online interactions and forget that you’re speaking to a large audience.
Utilize these suggestions to avoid Facebook gaffes and enhance your social media interactions.
1. Use it as a soapbox
Political topics are sensitive, and things tend to appear in black or white on social media when there are no visual or verbal signals to help people comprehend your message. Social media may not be the greatest platform for debating these topics. Be cautious while expressing your political or religious beliefs if you don’t want to risk being “unfriended.”
2. Get too personal
Posting graphic medical information or images from a wild ladies’ night might have long-lasting repercussions, especially because our Facebook networks sometimes include professional connections.
Younger generations who have grown up using social media could be more likely to overshare and overlook the drawback that potential employers may look them up online. Even if your privacy settings only allow your friends to see your postings, one of your friends could have a public page where anybody can view them. This could in some circumstances have an impact on a job applicant.
3. Publicly criticize a “friend”
A huge no-no on Facebook is criticizing a friend’s parenting methods or picking on a sibling. It’s OK to lightheartedly tease someone you know and understand reasonably well, but it’s never acceptable to be nasty or pick on someone in front of an audience. There are better ways to speak in private that won’t annoy somebody as much.
4. Fish for customers
According to a poll by the social analytics company NM Incite, fishing for customers can send you to the no-friend zone. The second and third most often mentioned reasons for unfriending someone were “offensive statements” and “don’t know them well,” respectively. Abusing a friendship by using your Facebook network to generate sales is unacceptable. Making a Facebook profile for your company is preferable if you want to advertise it and allow customers to opt-in or out.
5. Beg for attention
We’ve all seen the enigmatic messages like “This is the worst day of my life” or “I can’t believe that happened,” which are supposed to elicit worry or compassion. Some of their friends may respond as they had planned, while others may view them as pitiful attention-seeking attempts. When publishing, use your social intelligence and consider why you are doing it. Do you genuinely want other people to know what you’re publishing, or are you simply being selfish? For example, are you posting anything to get compliments on your most recent selfie? If the latter, you might want to think twice.
6. Try to keep us with the “Joneses”
On Facebook, most users portray themselves favorably, and there is nothing wrong with it. Facebook is a platform for showcasing your accomplishments and the positive things that are happening in your life, like a 21st-century scrapbook.
But it might make you feel like your life isn’t good enough when all you see on a friend’s page are positive updates and cheery pictures. The technique, known as “fakebooking,” may have a harmful impact on you. Sociologists discovered that students who used Facebook the most concurred that their friends, even those they don’t know personally, were happier and had better lives in 2012 research published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
You might need to adjust your viewpoint if your time on Facebook depresses you. Facebook resembles a movie teaser in several ways. You don’t see the entire tale, the resolution, or the bloopers; you just see the highlights. If seeing your friends’ Facebook profiles makes you feel down, remember that they are probably not sharing bad things that are occurring to them. Who wants to capture their worst moments on camera or in a selfie, after all?
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