What not to do on social networks.

Social networks are ubiquitous. They have established its presence in every nook and corner of lives, including the time we spend in bathrooms (thanks to those small boxes called mobile/tablets). People have become comfortable sharing personal matters on social networks. While being extrovert helps in knowing more people, make contacts, earn reputation etc. there are things you need to look out at.

I personally use two social networks Facebook and Google+. I am planning to start using LinkedIn to make some professional contacts and twitter to find people who share similar hobbies as mine.

I use social networks not only to chat or know people but also to understand people.

Your social profile reflects you!  

Keep above line engraved in your brain. Here I will talk about few things that you should not do and why.

They are social networks, not your personal diary.  

Some guest has come to your home. Do you reveal all the personal matter about you to them? Will you tell them about your row with your spouse or show them your snaps that you took randomly and other trivial stuff? Sensible answer would be no.

 

You should not reveal anything more than you would when you see some guest at your home. Social Networks are for socializing. Not plastering everything you have on your mind.

 

Think before you act.

Liking, commenting and sharing can destroy your reputation before whole world including your employer, relatives and anyone who is a part of online world in general. Recently, I came across a profile of one of the "intelligent" students. By intelligent, I just mean he scores good marks and does nothing else other than studies. My intention here is not to criticize anyone. If you are scoring good and have a reputation of intelligent student, sensible posts are expected from you. If your entire page is full of links and makes no sense, it will surely tarnish your image. Even if those links are not obnoxious, it still tarnishes your image. Look at the screen shot and you will know what I mean to say.



 

 

 

Just imagine if the entire Facebook wall is filled with this  kind of random and promotional stuff, how would it look? Imagine that your prospective employer sees your wall, what will he think? To me, such behaviour is irritating and no matter what that person score I assume that he has low IQ.  Posting link on Facebook about "buy two get one free" for any random product which is not yours is insane.

 

While this is just an example, there can be many other ways in which people behave in more irritating way. For example, posting tangential remarks about something that had happened. Why do you want to put it there?

 

Likes can be problems

When you like a page or anything else, you vote for it. You say that you share the similar option as that of original post. Same is the case with sharing something on social network. I have seen people liking the pages like "Dost ko thanks bolta hai" which translates in English as "You say thanks to your friend even!". People (usually teenagers and youth) gets carried away by such lines and like them without looking at what those page are actually about. At times it turns out that these pages share certain things which might not be acceptable socially. This can hamper your image.

 

I know that one should take a chill pill and don't take social networks very seriously. But everyone won't except your flamboyant behaviour.

 

How do you use social networks? What is your opinion about it?