The Do’s and Don’ts of Posting on Facebook

With the continued rise in popularity of social media networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is important to realize there are certain do’s and don’ts that everyone should realize – especially at various stages in your life. While posting pictures of you drunk with friends while celebrating finals week in College, realize that many hiring offices are looking to Facebook as soon as resumes cross their desk. It is up for debate as to whether they should judge you as an employee candidate based on the personal life you display to the social media world, but nevertheless, they do.

Privacy Settings
As social media re-invents itself, one should be aware of the changes that are frequently occurring with the privacy settings. Check yours frequently and ensure that the more questionable posts and pictures –if they have to be posted– can certainly be limited in visibility. Setting up restricted lists and not posting your partying all night photos to everyone on your friends list can help you hide some of those things without tying your hands completely behind your back.

Written Content
Proof reading your posts and refraining from vulgar and obscene language are generally good rules to follow. Don’t use your Facebook stream to wage attacks against others. Bullying in any form is not a good idea. If you are the parent of small children, be aware that unfortunately, there are people who troll social media sites and you should take reasonable precautions to protect the safety of your children.

The same goes for yourself. With the addition of plug in’s like foursquare and Facebook’s own application, more and more Facebook users are “Checking In”. Letting everyone know where you are; or more importantly, where you are not, is a good way to let people know when your house is empty.

Photographic Content
While there are some controls and regulations in place regarding the content of pictures, many are posted and viewed before those precautions are ever put into place. Now that other users have the ability to tag photos, it is equally important to remember to check that box so that you can protect unwanted (and possibly unknown) pictures of you from being posted and tagged on Facebook. If you do find an objectionable picture, you can remove the tag, ask the person to take the photo down or report the photo as inappropriate.

Nothing is secret anymore. Everyone has a cell phone or a digital camera and with wi fi virtually everywhere, photo posting is almost instantaneous. What you view as a harmless spring break, or summer break moment of fun, college admissions counselors (who do look up potential students) and human resource personnel do look at the pictures and are prone to thinking a picture speaks a thousand words and may hold those pictures against you.

Facebook has placed age restrictions on joining the free site. You have to be 13 to have a Facebook account and post to it. Except that many parents are turning a blind eye to the fact that their 11 and younger children have their own Facebook accounts. They post with comments and pictures that not only their friends (of the same age) see but everyone else who has access to the feed. Parents need to exercise some of the parental controls and monitor their children’s posts and pictures. Many children under the age of 13 lack the appropriate social skills and filters that teach them what is appropriate to say and what is over the edge. Use this as a teaching skill to illustrate the proper way to post your activities, comments and pictures.

Facebook and other social media outlets can be a great way to chronicle many parts of your life and have a photographic diary of all the wonderful events you were part of. Make sure that the others that will see those same chronicles do not have room to judge you. Let those memories remain good ones and not something that will come back to haunt you many years later

Because what you write matters consider using a grammar checker such as Grammarly or taking time to become familiar with basic English Grammar Rules.

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