Like many people, I spend a lot of time on social media. As I’ve said in the past, it is a good way to keep up with people, see cat photos and share thoughts on various topics. While this is a very good thing, there are also things that many people, including myself, find to be annoying and unattractive.
1. Announcing a Facebook hiatus/friends cut. This is something I have seen for about as long as I have been a member of social media. It is also something I have never understood. Are you looking for attention? For people to beg you to keep them/stay? A general warning? Seriously, the truth is, nobody actually cares if you are taking time off social media or weeding out your friends list. Chances are, the people you are deleting have no contact with you and won’t even notice. An announcement that you are doing this is not necessary, just do it and move on.
2. Drama with other people. I mentioned this in a previous article about dealing with relationships, but it bears repeating. Don’t bring your personal issues with someone else onto your page, especially if you are friends with them on social media or have mutual friends. This causes more fights, other people to get involved and hurt feelings. Would you want someone airing your dirty laundry? No? Then why do it to something else?
3. Passive aggressive posts and constant complaining. Yes, sometimes it is ok to vent on social media or to ‘vaguebook,’ but sometimes people take it to extremes. Constantly whining about your life, other people and making vague ‘life isn’t fair’ or ‘woe is me’ comments only serve to turn people off. If you really need to talk, then reach out to someone in real life. Again, airing your dirty laundry isn’t a good idea. You can post if you have a problem or need advice, but turning your page into an Erica Kane worthy drama fest never helped anyone.
4. Posting things about work. Ok, sometimes we have WTF moments at work that are worth sharing with others. Heck, I have had them too. However, you need to be VERY careful when doing so. You never know who other people’s friends are or who is connected to someone at work, so it is best to just not do it at all, or if you want to share that WTF moment, keep it so vague (one time vaugebooking is ok) so there is no way to connect it to your job. Another thing that can happen is that it can get back to the boss if you have coworkers on your page. Is your post really worth being written up over, or worse, losing your job? You never know how the head honchos will react to work related stuff being shared on social media.
5. Politics. I personally don’t like political posts, but I can give them a pass IF they don’t bash one side or the other and if they can lead to a healthy, mature discussion. However, I personally keep them off my own page because I follow the ‘no discussion of religion or politics’ rule (Great Pumpkin gets a pass), but I respect other people’s decisions to do so.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments.
