I’m a stickler for etiquette. It makes me think of an older era of simplicity and politeness, pre-cell phone, and I love that. I send handwritten thank you notes within days of receiving a gift. I make sure invitations go out at the right time, with the appropriate handwritten addresses, and I only use electronic invitations when absolutely appropriate. I send actual birthday and anniversary cards. I have stacks of books on etiquette – both old school and “urban.” So I’m a big fan of the British etiquette experts Debrett’s. When I was getting married, I bought Wedding Guide to Etiquette without batting an eyelash.
Debrett’s has now issued 5 Golden Rules for Sociable Social Networking. Research by British Telecom Orange found that 62% – nearly two-thirds of us – are frustrated by new situations we find ourselves in on sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and BeBo. How appropriate is it to be poked or poke someone anyway?
So, in partnership with Orange, Debrett’s now offers these 5 rules to help alleviate your confusion:
1. You don’t have to make friends with people you don’t know. It’s not a competition to see how many friends you can get. Think before you poke.
2. Always wait 24 hours before accepting or removing someone as a friend. The delay will help you gather your thoughts.
3. Birthdays, engagements and weddings are not ‘virtual’ events. Always send birthday cards or call your friends when there’s important news.
4. Consider your friends’ feelings before posting pictures. Put yourself in their shoes before clicking ‘upload.’
5. Think carefully about your profile picture – if you don’t want to see it in your local newspaper, don’t put it online.
Many of these rules are things that I teach in my LinkedIn and Facebook sessions. Truthfully, they’re common sense for most adults – or so you would think.
Social networking now has official Rules of Etiquette.
As an aside, the Independent took this one step further with the Geek’s Guide to Netiquette that’s pretty funny.
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Events, news, apps, and more – let me know at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, via Twitter, or via Pownce.