50 Rules of Social Media Etiquette for Students

I've just been checking my Google Reader subscriptions., and came across this interesting post from Social Guy. It contains 50 'netiquette' rules for students, categorised into General, Twitter and Facebook. Helpfully, there are sections devoted to job-seeking and grammar as well.

Observe the rules of etiquetteI don't agree with all of these 'rules'. For instance:

Substituting “2″ for “to” looks like you’re in junior high.

Well, perhaps, but it also saves one character, which could be crucial!

Another one:

You might think it’s nice to send an automatic message every time someone follows you, but it actually makes you look lazy and unengaged. Social media is about the personal effort behind the connection.

I agree, but not responding at all for a while also makes you look unengaged.

I shouldn't use this set of rules completely out of the box, but as a very useful starting point for discussion with students.

Comments

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

You might think it’s nice to send an automatic message every time someone follows you, but it actually makes you look lazy and unengaged.

I do send an automatic message to people who follow me on twitter; it tells them what I use twitter for and thanks them for following me. Many new followers respond to the message and that can help spark off communication.

So an automated message can act as a 'thank you', an introduction and an 'icebreaker'.

After all, you don't always know when someone new follows you on Twitter. Sometimes you get an email but I've found that that is not always the case.

Posted by Doug Woods http://doug-woods.blogspot.com/

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, Doug, I agree entirely.

[Neal]

And likewise, I didn't have an automated message configured but am now considering it - mainly because I'd like to acknowledge that I'm following someone back. I don't particularly like the fact that I end up with a pile of emails, but until a better notification system appears it'll do for now.

I also agree with point about the use of '2' and 'to' - gramar rules are evolving quickly at present with short messages......

On a side note, after reading the post - lots of it is to do with Facebook-style netiqette. What's the best method to teach/discuss this with pupils if you can't access the sites while in a school or even see how the pupils use these sites in the real-world?

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thx for yr comment, Neal. The only problem with the automated 'holding replies' I think is that it can take you ages to find the time to respond properly.

Regarding the teaching question, it's an interesting issue. I've always favoured teachng such things in a similar, but safe, environment, eg in the chat or IM facility of the school's learning platform or VLE, or using a walled gardened social network environment.

I wonder if other people have better ideas?