So, I have been having an ongoing issue with the older generation population on facebook. Mainly with their lack of knowledge when it comes to facebook etiquette. Many of my older "Facebook friends" are extended family or church family who I love and cherish with all my heart but seriously wish they would "get with the program" and use facebook etiquette! This is my message to them, and anyone else it may apply to.
For starters, STOP reposting those spam statuses that are like "everyone can see everything on your facebook page unless you jump through these 20 hoops, unfriend half your friends, sign a blood oath, and give up your first born child." (A little dramatic, but you get the picture) Those kind of statuses have no truth to them. If you really want to know about your privacy settings, go to your privacy settings and look! Posting those statuses to your wall announces to the world you were to naive to understand what it was really saying and to lazy to see if what it was saying was true.
Secondly, there is a huge difference in implication between liking a post and commenting on a post. When you think someone is doing something cool, or you agree with what they say, or find what they posted to be funny, you "like" it. The little like icon on the bottom left side of the post. Generally you only comment on a post if you have something to add, or if you were part of the experience they talked about. If the post was a question and you have an answer, then it is all ok too!
The third piece is, DO NOT comment on posts of people you do not know. For instance, if I am tagged in a post by my friend Kate cause we went on a coffee run or something, and my cousin Rey does not know Kate and is not associated with the coffee run we took together, it is generally understood Rey would not comment on that post. It would be acceptable to "like" the status, because he like or cares about what I, his cousin, is up to. But if Rey comments on the post, and possibly makes reference to something Kate doesn't know, it becomes awkward because it was Kate's post to begin with. Now all her friends can see that comment too. Now, if I had been the one to post about Kate and I having an adventure, since I am directly connected and facebook friends with Rey, it would be acceptable for him to comment on it.
Also, not everything you see on facebook NEEDS to be commented on! That is the beauty of the like button. You can acknowledge you have seen what I or my friends have posted. Try to find the right delicate balance between the comment and like ratio.
It should also be noted, when you do decide to comment, (and it should be considered before hand whether you even need to comment at all) the comment should be on topic and relate to the post! If I make a status about Kate and I's coffee run, and Rey decides to comment something like " I love coffee! Passed by the coffee stand as I was picking out some fruit for a fruit salad today that I had to make for my church picnic. It was a hot day, so the picnic didn't last long! Did your church ever get their front sign fixed?" Now all my friends who liked my status know how cousin Rey's day went... There is no need for that. I still want to here about his day, and would be glad to answer his question, but thats the beauty of private message over facebook! That is what that is for! So all your facebook friends don't have to hear about Rey's life! They frankly don't all care.
I have been experiencing a lot of breaching in facebook etiquette lately. So I had to get this off my chest. Keep in mind photos are ALWAYS good to comment on, and when commenting positive things it is always appreciated. But when a comment has nothing to do with the people in it, and the commenter doesn't know the people, it gets weird... For some reason the younger generation innately knows this stuff and agrees with it. Is it because we have kind of grown up with it and the older generation hasn't? Hmmmm....
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