Tips for Net Etiquette

Tips for Net Etiquette

Sometimes, the Tweet can be mightier than the sword.  Or, even worse, your Tweets can get you into trouble.  For example, celebrities like Courtney Love were recently sued for libel for comments she made.  Though most of us won’t have to suffer through these situations, it was recently revealed that many employers will go through their employees’ social media sites to see what they are tweeting.  Therefore, it is important to remember these Twitter tips for etiquette purposes:

These are its tips for Net Etiquette:

Debrett’s has published a guide to etiquette on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, in an attempt to help people remain civil online.  Here are some of the highlights of their list of tips for net etiquette:

1. Avoid causing fear and chaos by wording your tweets correctly: a wrongly worded tweet caused panic about a gunman on London’s Oxford Street recently. In fact, the tweet referred to a harmless photo shoot.

2. Do not overload the Facebook home page feed with countless status updates. Be sure that your posts are written to enlighten others, and not used as an exercise in vanity.

3. Do not use social media under the influence. Mr Charlie Sheen may not have such qualms, but few are the letters, conversations or electronic correspondence that are more lucid when intoxicated.

4. Do not vent online. And take particular care if your personal Twitter account is also utilised for work purposes – tantrums on Twitter rarely resolve disputes with colleagues, customers or clients. Ms Courtney Love’s aggressive Twitter rants at her fashion designer cost her impressive £264,000 in lawsuit costs. It would have been more prudent to have bought a bar of soap to wash her mouth out.

5. Do refrain from airing your dirty laundry in public and keep your spats off the web. Although it may help you get column inches if you’re promoting a TV show or a new album.

6. Do not bombard your various social media outlets with lots of pictures, updates and blogs all at once – sharing is not always caring.

7. Most importantly, ensure your personal profile across all form of social media reflects yourself in the way you desire. We have to ask again. Are you listening Courtney Love?

8. Do not let spelling and grammar fly out the window. 140 characters is not an excuse to be sloppppy [sic]

9. Be selective in accepting invitations on business networks such as LinkedIn. This is your professional network – a revealing black book of people whom you believe to be valued contacts. Consider that many recruitment officers will search and invite contacts en masse.

10. And lastly, make sure you use other forms of communication once in a while. Pick up the phone, meet face-to-face, or even write a good, old-fashioned letter. You do remember how, don’t you?  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8434855/Netiquette-Debretts-guide-to-Twitter-and-Facebook.html

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