Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Social Networking???

Earlier this evening a girlfriend and I were pondering the do's and don't's, or perhaps the should's and should not's of social networking.  I pose the following questions to you, my faithful readers.  Is there a certain amount of etiquette reasonably expected on sites like Facebook or Twitter?  Should we simply post any thought that scrolls through our minds at any given time of the day or night with no thought whatsoever as to consequence or whether or not anyone cares to read that particular morsel?  Would we be better off considering that perhaps social networking is supposed to be for entertainment value and that our postings of how much we hate our lives and/or situations and/or partners/spouses/lovers/children/dogs/neighbors/or the crazy cat lady might be fodder better suited to an email to oh, say, a sponsor or a suicide hot line?

I realize that in cyberspace we are all allowed to be anything or anyone we choose.  We can vent, brag, conceal, deny, implore, stand on our soapboxes, lurk, swear, stalk, talk smack, speak in other tongues, berate, beg, belittle, befriend, unfriend, and give an hour by hour description of our day to day routines.  We post pictures, spread news, spread gossip, tell jokes, play pranks, say mean and awful things, or say something truly uplifting and hoist our fellow networkers on our collective shoulders and give a mighty HOO-RAH for any accomplishment whether real or imagined.  Who am I to say what's right and what's wrong when it comes to posting our inner most thoughts on the Internet for any and all who care to go looking, to see?

All of the above however; begs the point to be made that anything you post is available for ALL TO SEE.  Prospective employers, credit granters, landlords, school administrators, lawyers, doctors, police, the crazy cat lady.  I think what I'm trying to impart is before we lay ourselves bare, served up on a shiny, binary, silver platter, we might want to ask ourselves this:  would I want my kid/employer/spouse/Higher Power to read what I've written and have it forever enshrined in cyberspace?  I'd also like to pose the question to you good people, does anyone really benefit by posting passive-aggressive comments?  Really?

Witty quip of the day:  By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill

2 comments:

Unknown said...

when people start describing their sexual exploits in minute detail, i kinda draw the line. had a friend who did that...and I didn't much care for it.

i like reading about intimate romantic scenes in romance novels or really juicy blog posts ( i follow some pretty racy gals) ...but not on facebook or twitter..


um, i don't like racist remarks. unless it's like a comedian on comedy central, for example. you know how they make jokes about their own races and such? i mean, obvious racial slurs I don't like.

other than that...cussing doesn't bother me, but I don't do it often myself.

well, as far as "adult" content..most blogs like that have that 18 or older notice. and they aren't usually like raunchy smut, it's just content not meant for kids.

all in all ...i've noticed most bloggers are pretty appropriate on their blogs. or they let people know what they are all about.

as far as FB and twitter...you gotta feel out the person. it may take a few days, but if I don't "click" with what you're all about, I'll quietly back away.

Apryl Schneider said...

Hi Jill. Thanks for the comments! It's always interesting to "hear" other people's perspectives on what they see on the internet. I completely get what you were saying about "quietly backing away". A friend and I were chatting about what to do with FB friends that consistantly say things we just don't care to see. Her way of dealing with it is to "hide" the person's posts rather than "unfriending" them. Like she said, it saves her from reading their garbage/drama and keeps feelings from getting hurt because they have no way of knowing that she isn't "seeing" everything they post.

Thanks again for the input Jill! Look forward to more interaction :).

Apryl (aka, The Sophisticated Girl)