NEW WESTMINSTER (CUP) — Social media is, for many, a necessary evil. Keeping up with study groups, long-distance friends or a too-busy social circle is close to impossible without online social resources. But, while some use social media wisely, others are guilty of overkill. Avoiding awful online etiquette is easy, if you avoid the following:
The over-posted meme
Everyone’s news feed seems to be completely clogged with memes of cute cats and the American presidential race. Do some of these makeshift comics make you laugh? Of course they do. That’s their objective. Do you see them repeated on your feed multiple times? Very likely you do. With that in mind, do you need to re-post the meme yet again? Probably not. Look at the bottom of the posting. If it has 10 000 likes and 40 000 shares, chances are a large portion of those in the social media world have already seen it.
The elusive link
The really cool and obscure article you found in the bowels of the Internet may be a good find, but a pictureless, ambiguous link is not likely to garner much attention, no matter how interesting the news article/blog/new music may be. Why not write a few opinionated lines when you post it next time? That will grab attention and actually make your post worthwhile.
Your word-vomit
So, after a week of studying, you and the gang finally painted the town red last weekend, and you most certainly deserved it. It can be hard to refrain from drunk Facebooking, especially with a surplus of smartphones on hand. But take heed: when you litter your friends’ news feeds with nonsensical, misspelled status updates and blurry, dark, camera phone pictures, you are essentially puking all over the Internet. Post a picture or update of the good times had that night. Just do it in moderation.
The “Vaguebook”
No one likes a whiner, and posting every emotion you feel throughout the day on public display is the online equivalent of complaining straight into the ear of everyone you know. Not only are vague, emotional status updates annoying, they’re rather pointless to boot. Would you not feel better talking to someone in person about your feelings instead of displaying them for the masses to see?
Instagrammed life-shots
Your pet is really cute. You should feel so lucky to have such a loving animal in your life. Do others need to see your pet 10 times a day in different poses with different photo filters attached to it on two different types of social media? No. The same goes for your daily food intake.
