Social Media Etiquette

How we choose to interact online is as important as we interact face to face.  Let's not forget, we are creating an impression and presence for the rest of the world to see us and whether we are representing a business or being our self it is important to know and use acceptable social skills.

Believe it or not!  There are general rules and etiquette expectations used in cyberspace and it's referred to as Netiquette.

Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online and include but are not limited to some of the rules listed below (Net Etiquette, 2011):

• Treat people as you would like to be treated
• Remember that you are interacting with real people and their feelings so it is important not to say anything offensive or that you would not say in person
• Be ethical and adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you would in real life
• Breaking the law is bad Netiquette so do your best to act within the laws of society and cyberspace
• Know where you are in cyberspace because Netiquette varies from domain to domain and what may be acceptable in one, may not be in another, so spend some time observing the domain before participating
• Be pleasant and polite
• Know what you are talking about and make sense
• Don't use offensive language or be confrontational for the sake of confrontation
• Share your knowledge, especially if you are an expert
• Respect other people's privacy
• Be forgiving of other people's mistakes and keep in mind that having good manners yourself doesn't give you licence to correct everyone else

Here is a link to a website that is a useful resource regarding Netiquette rules:

The Core Rules of Netiquette

Whilst the following link is a useful Australian Government resource that addresses the Internet basics including Netiquette Internet basics.

References

Net Etiquette. (2011). The Core Rules of Netiquette. Retrieved September 14, 2014,

     from website: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html