Monday Manners: Facebook Etiquette

Happy Holiday Monday, y’all!  A friend sent me this article, and I couldn’t help but use it for a Monday Manners post.  Enjoy!

Real Simple asked readers to share their biggest Facebook pet peeves.  Here, get the results of this exclusive survey.

by: Kristin Appenbrink

What’s the Most Annoying Kind of Facebook Update?

24 percent: Intentionally vague posts meant to generate concern and attention, a.k.a. vaguebooking. “Jennifer wonders whether it’s all been worth it.”
20 percent: Chronic complaining. “Ugh, who ordered this RAIN? It’s making my carpal tunnel act up again.”
19 percent: Meaningless calls to action. “If you want to fight world hunger, put the color of your socks as your status update for the next half hour. I want to see who is brave enough to take a stand.”
14 percent: Oversharing. “Note to self: Next time, wear a thong with that wrap dress.”
13 percent: Miscellaneous posts—including polarizing religious or political statements, indecipherable txt spk, and game updates.
10 percent: Posting too frequently. “12:03: Chicken salad or tuna? 12:12: Chicken! Thanks for the responses.”

What’s the Most Irritating Status Update You’ve Seen in the Past 24 Hours?

  • “Love you, sheriff!”* (That’s her nickname for her husband. Sometimes she includes a picture of herself in lingerie.)
  • “I’d like to thank my wonderrrful boyfriend for bringing me cinnamon rolls in bed this morning and making this Monday a great start to my week.”
  • “With 10 grams of fiber per serving, Uncle Sam cereal should come with a warning label: Do not eat if your commute is longer than 10 minutes.”
  • “I wish someone cared.”
  • “Who just ran 11 miles around town and feels great? This guy!”
  • “So tired. Going to bed now.”
  • “Tanning at the country club.”
  • “[NAME OMITTED] just checked in at Omaha Nasal & Sinus Center.”*
  • “I’m already in a bad mood, then this girl in class has a stinky lunch! How did she know I wanted 2 smell that crap 4 the next hour!?”

Other Dishonorable Mentions

  • Quotations and song lyrics
  • Bad grammar and spelling
  • Anything involving Mondays

What’s the Most Irksome Facebook Request?

35 percent: Quizzes. “Which literary heroine/classic movie/pizza topping are you?”
32 percent: A friend request from a stranger.
23 percent: Invitations to join random groups. “Share memories of Camp Slippery Elm!”
10 percent: A friend request from a near stranger—that is, someone from the distant past—with no message.

Facebook Photos: To Tag or Not to Tag?

74 percent of readers don’t ask permission before tagging someone else in a photo.
62 percent post photos of people who aren’t on Facebook.
Despite these statistics, a common reader complaint was being tagged in photos that don’t flatter them—or even feature them. (One poor woman reported that her “friends” tagged her in a photo of a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.) “What if we’re doing something inappropriate?” wrote one reader. “I’m in law school and cannot risk offending a future employer.”
As with language, follow “the grandmother rule,” advises Smith. “Post only pictures that person would be pleased to share with her grandmother,” she says. “Otherwise get permission first.” Never post a photo of someone else’s children without permission. And if you do come across an image of yourself on Facebook that’s less than stellar, click the Report/Remove Tag option below the photo on the right, which will let you unlink it from your profile; report it as spam; or send a message to the person and ask that it be removed.

Other Photos We Would Rather Not See

  • Multiple PDA photos. (Says one reader: “I don’t care about your love. Your love is gross.”)
  • Every single one of the 3,668 blurry shots that you took of the Grand Canyon.
  • What you are eating/are about to eat/have eaten.
  • Self-portraits in the bathroom mirror. (“You’re all dolled up to go out, but I can see your toilet. Not sexy!”)
  • Inebriated people.
  • Shirtless people (men or women).
  • Endless baby pictures.
  • Profile pictures of pets, cartoon characters, or anything that isn’t the person in the profile. (One reader commented that when she receives a friend request and all she sees is a sonogram, she gets confused.)
  • Duck face—that pouty, “sexy” expression characterized by pooched-out lips.

So, I’m definitely guilty of some of these offenses (i.e. “endless baby pictures” for one.)  Do you feel like you follow proper Facebook etiquette?

Photo Credit: 1

14 thoughts on “Monday Manners: Facebook Etiquette

  1. Oh I love this post!!! I just might have to link it to my blog today! The older I am getting, the more and more I dislike FB. But what really really gets my fire going is when people put their children's toilet training progresses as their status. I understand that potty training is hard – I went through months of it when I was a nanny!! However there are some things left private and that is one of them!!!

  2. Ha Ha ! This is great. Certainly guilty of putting too many baby pics and tagging others without permission. Otherwise, I think I am ok. I HATE cartoon or other characters as profile pic. And, don't ask me to be your friend if I know your friend. Ugh.

  3. hahaha – so right! My other favourite peeve is endless Smug Mothering – constant boasting about a child's latest acheivements, certificates, reports, concerts…. Boasting about what they have been bought as a gift….. overly soppy 'I love my darling hubby-dubsxxxx' etc. Oh yes, you could write a book about FB etiquette!

  4. The thing going around my daughters' group of FB friends in the "I'm bored so…..truth is"….and if you "like" that post they will write a truthful statement about that person. Oh boy does that get on my nerves! xoxo

  5. How much of this is satire and how much of it is actual advice?

    I use my facebook for a couple of things, and one of them is for "polarizing political speech." I don't do that on my blogs, I rarely do it on twitter, and in real life, the right situation has to occur. However, my original decision to get on facebook was to keep in contact with political organisers, much of my resume is in politics, and my own wall and profile are blocked (you cannot tag me nor post to my wall without my permission, and I almost never allow the latter). Any employer who reads my resume is going to know my political views based on the organisations I have worked for. So I do not feel it is problematic to be political on my facebook. That's pretty much the main reason I use it.

  6. Hm….when it comes to pictures, it's my facebook page, my photo albums and I put as many photos of my son in them as I want. It's easy to share the link so family can see the pics all at once even if they aren't on facebook. If someone is offended by the number of photos I put in my albums it's probably best we aren't friends :O)

  7. I am definitely guilty of some of these. I share pictures (lots of them) because I have friends and family all over the place, and FB sharing is just easier than sending an email with all of the pictures. The sports posts do get annoying, but with so many sports loving friends and family….I cant seem to escape it!!

  8. I knew someone who ended her engagement on fb. I mean…she accused her (innocent) fiance of cheating, tagged about 20 people in a picture of his chat log which revealed nothing and it made a big mess. It happened months ago and I'm still shocked but at the end of the day,she lost a good man just because she couldn't keep the mess off of Facebook. They had a big wedding planned in June. A mess that only started once she posted it. Facebook can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Sounds crazy but it's the truth.

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