Your online presence: Facebook Etiquette

In our technology and information-obsessed society, social networking sites like Facebook have become the new town herald, and airing your dirty laundry can be as easy as pressing “Share”.

Technology can be your best friend or your worst enemy. In the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You” there’s a scene where Drew Barrymore’s character talks about how exhausting it is to keep in touch with people these days. We have all these different portals to give and receive messages with email, Facebook, text messaging, Yahoo Messenger, etc., only to end up getting rejected by all these different technologies. And when it comes to the delicate art of Facebook etiquette, things can get a little slippery, here are few tips of navigating the cyberworld of social networking.

1. Relationship Status

One of the hardest things a person can go through is a bad breakup. So when you see your ex change their relationship status to “Single” barely a day after you two split it’s as if they’re rubbing salt on an open wound, then dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire, for good measure. Some people say a month is enough, some say a couple of days, we recommend waiting a week.

2. “Like”-ing Questionable Things

If someone shares that their dog just died, it’s probably best not to “Like” it. Also, it’s in bad taste to “Like” relationship changes, particularly the ones that involve a break up. You can tell a lot about a person based on the things they “Like”.

3. Posting Unflattering and Incriminating Pictures of Yourself/Others

So you had a crazy weekend at the beach with your closest friends, got a little too drunk and passed out with your pants off, while you may think that was a hoot and a holler and don’t mind sharing the photographic evidence with the world, you should probably re-think it. The same goes for posting unflattering photos of your friends. The golden rule should be, if you wouldn’t want your friends seeing you like that, chances are, they wouldn’t either.

4. Ranting about work when your boss is on your friends list

Let’s say you hate your job and want everyone to know it, it’s probably best to make sure your boss isn’t on your friends list. After all, there’s nothing more pathetic and sadder than Facebook costing you your job. Facebook allows you to create custom friend groups, use it.

5. Drunk Facebooking

We’ve gone from drunk dialing to drunk texting, drunk emailing to drunk Facebooking. The evolution of self-perpetuated embarrassment has reached all-new heights. Thankfully, the good people at Firefox have given us some hope for retaining our dignity with the add-on “The Social Media Sobriety Test” which requires you take a series of tests before you’re allowed to log in to your Facebook (or Twitter and Myspace).

From EYP.ph