My Social Media Sermon

Well hello there, lovelies!

Greetings from Saturday night. That's right, it is Saturday night and I've chosen to stay home. This decision was a hard one since there were several very fun things happening in the D of C this wild and crazy evening... but I think my decision to stay home, wear sweatpants, drink chocolate milk, and tell you about my most recent social media pet peeves was a good one. (Also, Julie F. just called to ask me how we know this guy she just met who "looked really familiar." Good thing I was home and able to do some Facebook research in a jiffy.)

Allow me to share a small vignette from my workplace. Although our office is a busy and highly productive place, there are times when something will happen that causes fits of laughter to erupt from a cube forcing the surrounding cube inhabitants to investigate. This happened a few months ago, and the source of the laughter was this article from The Oatmeal (the source was actually my friend and colleague Sally H., but it was caused because she had been reading The Oatmeal and found the article entitled "10 things to stop tweeting about" to be quite humorous). (Sally, this is your debut on W and CP!)

...So, I began thinking about my own "what not to tweet" list and came up with a few social media pet peeves (or "best practices" to use a more positive frame) that I thought I'd share here.

Two caveats before I begin... Firstly, this post may come across as preachy or negative. As you know, that is not my usual MO. But, I think it is important for you to know how I feel. I love using Facebook and Twitter and other social media tools, and if we all adhere to a few basic rules of the road, I think the experience will be richer, more nourishing, and all around better for everyone.

Secondly, allow me to just reiterate my disdain for the Facebook message. We've discussed it before, and I will mention it again: if you send me a Facebook message, I will respond by e-mail. If you can't say it on my wall (and maybe you shouldn't if it involves plan making or something you'd prefer for the whole world not to see), you should use my gmail address which is proudly displayed in the "info" part of my profile for all to use. Examples of times NOT to use the Facebook message:

• for something time critical
• an event invitation
• request for me to photograph your child
• to double check that I've gotten your e-mail

A friend recently told me he was planning to ask a girl out on a date THROUGH A FACEBOOK MESSAGE. I was glad he shared this information with me so I could spend the following hour convincing him why this was not a good idea. I think I am getting Facebook crotchety in my old age, but I feel strongly about this.

Okay, now onto the additional items on my social media best practices list:

Use a semi decent camera.
I am not suggesting you carry around a heavy camera, lens, and flash like me (but if you do, that's cool too)... but when your kids are doing something awesome, you are eating a most delicious meal, you're visiting the White House, or perhaps attending the Democratic National Convention, you should use a camera that is better than your iPhone. I know the newer iPhones have better cameras (I wouldn't know from experience, I'm still rocking the "classic" 3, but this is the word on the street), but even then, they are first phones and cameras second therefore their photos are not worthy of documenting your child's first bite of solid food. A simple point and shoot camera will get the job done swimmingly.

I do agree that the best camera is the one you have with you, and I wish I had the space in my bag and strength in my back and arms to schlep my real camera with me ALL THE TIME, but... If you know something important is going to be happening and you plan to post those photos on the interweb (or maybe order prints of the images to display in your home in a beautiful frame with a thick white mat) in an album featuring more than just one random photo of a funny item at the grocery store or oddly worded street sign, you should use a camera that is not your phone.

I love this post by DC wedding photographer (and photojournalist often covering the White House), Michael Connor, about this VERY topic. Check it out.

Own it: Twitter and Facebook are different.
Maybe you've discovered the fancy Twitter and Facebook update all in one tools (or maybe I've spent too much time watching the Oprah Winfrey Network and therefore am using the expression "own it" far too much)! They are very cool, and I use one myself (it is called "Selective Tweets" and it allows you to put the custom hashtag at the end of specific tweets you'd like to also serve as Facebook stus updates). But, this is where it gets interesting: sometimes things are formatted for Twitter that don't translate well on Facebook.

For example, it is kind of strange to use someone's twitter handle in a Facebook status update. Or a hashtag used on Twitter is really not meant for Facebook. This, of course, is just a rule of thumb and can be violated with impeccable comedic timing and when used sparingly, could be hilarious. But not all the time. #hashtagpunchline

Respect the 7th principle.
The foundation for the Unitarian Universalist community is a list of seven principles. The seventh is respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Not only do I love the UU community (and love two specific UUs living in Minnesota), I love the seven principles and especially this one. I take it to mean many things, but in the context of the interweb I take it to mean that your mom is reading all my tweets. Yup, I just compared one of the UU seven principles to keeping your content on the web clean.

So don't tweet about how much you had to drink or what happened when you were under the influence. You can tell me you have security settings that prevent people you don't know (or your grandmother) from reading what you put online, but in the end "you are your own security setting." (I think I should star in my own internet security PSA.)

Tag, you're it.
So, you know that fancy trick on Facebook and Twitter that allows you to tag other users and link to their profiles? Good, I think it is awesome too. Here's the kicker: when you don't use the correct Twitter handle, the link doesn't work. And that is no fun. AND, on Facebook... you can't reply to people in messages using this trick, so don't try it. You just end up looking silly. And not silly in a fun, well executed Halloween costume kind of way.

In addition, when you are tagging people or things on Facebook using this feature, you should wait for your friend list to populate entirely before selecting someone to tag. In short, don't think that you can just write @SOMEONE COOL on Facebook and think the site will turn that into a profile link... that's not how the technology works (at this time). I think the fact that I just wrote that information in a blog post means Facebook is well on their way to changing this feature and this little nugget will be out of date faster than you can say "product road map" but I'm going for it anyway.

Like fingernails, URLs should be short.
You know how much I love short, bright nails. Well, the same goes for URLs. Nobody wants to waste all that space in a twitter message with a super long URL. Clean 'em up using a URL shortener (these are often built into twitter applications and will happen automatically). I think this is also helpful when posting URLs in gchat status messages and on Facebook just to keep your page looking clean.

Am I going crazy? Did I just discuss keeping one's Facebook page "looking clean?"

I think that's enough for tonight. And remember, I share these in the "we're all in the same hustle" kind of way (someone really said this to my sister once, I think it is brilliant). Not in a "you should be self conscious about what you share online for fear W and CP will police your profile" type of way. I have too many photos to edit to notice, anyway.

Over and out,
EPG

PS--Maybe leave "LOL" off the end of every Facebook status you write, while you're at it. If you really were laughing out loud when you wrote it, then it is okay... but once again, this is one of those internet things that will remain much funnier if used sparingly.