Social media is pretty much here to stay. We can all agree on that much. It also appears that Facebook is where you can find almost all of your friends any time of the day. You probably use it to connect with colleagues as well as that best friend from kindergarten that you never thought about until Facebook magically made it possible to keep in touch with everyone who ever waved at you. Avoid the following five habits to ensure that those people stay your friends beyond the first day they accept your friend request.
1. Game Sharing
So you enjoy playing Facebook games. There’s no shame in that. Own it! However, under no circumstances should you post your stats on a daily or even weekly basis. Your friends really don’t care how great you are at Scrabble or how many zombies your plants may have zapped. Trust me on that. Otherwise, prepared to be known as the person with way too much time on his hands who is a little proud of that fact.
2. Posting Overly Inspirational Memes
Enough already with the inspirational quotes! Yes, when used sparingly and chosen carefully, wise words from a respected leader can inspire true inner change. Chances are, no single Facebook post is really that well-researched. Lay off the inspirational memes and quotes. Flooding your feed with them will just get people hitting “hide all posts” from you.
3. Being a Cryptic Drama Queen or King
You know what I mean. There are some people who thrive on posting a clearly unfinished thought in the apparent hopes of people asking for more. Never post things like: “Wow, that was the most amazing news ever!” or “I’ve never been this disappointed in someone.” When you leave out the most important part of the story you’re sharing, that is just asking for attention, and it’s sure to annoy people left and right. Also, it will probably just prompt a lot of questions you probably shouldn’t answer in a public forum.
4. Overdoing It With the Selfies
Taking self-portraits on a daily basis is bad enough, but updating your Facebook profile photo to a new selfie every day is going off the deep end of social media etiquette. Kick that self-portrait timer on your camera to the curb. Don’t look back. Nobody really needs 500 pictures on Facebook, so take it easy and update your photo sparingly. Your friends will thank you.
5. Liking Your Own Posts
You are welcome to love yourself, but if you are on Facebook try not to ‘like’ yourself! Think about it. When you “socially network with yourself” by clicking “like” on your own posts, that’s akin to laughing loudly at your own jokes at a party. People are sure to take notice of it, and they’ll go away from the experience with the impression that you are conceited or, at best, a bit lacking in tact. If you are posting it, we can all assume that you like what you’re saying. There’s no need to drive that point home. After all, you don’t want to be seen high fiving yourself in public…!