In today’s world, social media is King. We have gone from the days of hanging out on front porches and riding bikes ‘til the twilight hours, to being on life support, fully integrated to our mobile devices. If you are a pad, pod, or smart person, you know that without our social media, we may get withdrawals and feel like the lone survivor on a deserted island. With all this media moving us at the speed of light, how do we interact with our fellow buddies, professionals and friends without coming off like a total socially inept individual? Lucky I am here to save you!
Recently I had an opportunity to talk to some professionals in this field studying this exact phenomenon, (and yes believe me it’s a phenomenon; when is the last time you can remember you had your day ruined by someone on FB, or a rude email?) they had some great wisdom to share, so I am going to pass this awesome stuff on to you!
Biggest Things to Remember
Biggest issue right now is that believe it or not, people still like to have some kind of response- If you are invited to something, take a few moments to answer the invite, whether it be a public event, or sent to you in a private message. When you ignore someone, you make yourself out to be a socially shallow individual that is too preoccupied with yourself to have an authentic connection.
It’s okay to say no. If you don’t know someone and they send a friend request, its ok to say no. I actually had a guy send me a private message upset because I had turned down one of his girlfriends… Dude, please! Get a life.
Leave the cussing for the Navy ships- I appreciate that you are now old enough to talk like a sailor, however, it doesn’t make you look cooler when you drop F-bombs on your page, it just makes us reel in horror, looking over our shoulder to see if our boss just saw what you wrote. Please, if you want to cuss, audition for a reality show.
Drop a note when you send a friend request to someone you don’t know. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I love to network, and many times when I send out an invite is because I think that person may be intriguing, however when I heard this idea for the first time, I thought it was classic. Most people, if you are like me will respond with… “Who in the heck is_____?” If you drop a note with the request, you can tell them you are just interested in connecting on a social level. Genius right?
Finally, if you get an instant chat, acknowledge it. If you don’t like the instant chat thing, then turn it off, its much better to be non existent on IM then have someone drop a salutation, and just wait FOREVER for you to respond (and don’t tell us you are the last one on earth to have a dial-up)
Finally, remember that social media is just that, social. Yes, you may think of yourself as attractive, but remember that in most cases, people just want to connect with no ill intent. When you are addressed, say hi, or be bold enough that if you don’t want to connect, don’t, but at least do them a favor and take them off your friend’s list. Trust me, it’s way better to be slim and trim on FB, then to have a million contacts and friends that you completely ignore.
I would talk about pics, but that’s a whole other mess! Maybe I will do a part two! Tell me what you think, post a comment or share a few ideas I may have missed! Stay tuned my pretties. Until Next Time!
I really enjoyed reading this post! I believe all people should read this before jumping into the social networking pool. Kind of like swimming lessons for Facebook : ) Can't wait to read the next one!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! What did you think of part Deux?
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