Social networking etiquette – Is it really necessary?
By Dave Parrack
The Web was once a free-for-all, a veritable Wild West where people did what they wanted, how they wanted, when they wanted. But some people are trying to inflict rules on what should surely remain as a bastion of freedom. Please, leave my social networking alone.
There are rules everywhere. You go to work and there are specific rules printed on the wall; you go home and there are unwritten rules to do with keeping the house tidy; even walking down the street there are rules telling you to get out of someone’s way if you’re about to bump into them. Well OK, that one is a good rule, but you get my drift.
The point is, our lives are governed by rules. They are there wherever we turn, and doesn’t that fact get on your nerves sometimes? Maybe I’m alone in my angst against rules and etiquette but I very much doubt it.
The Web is one place where rules are slightly more relaxed. Sure, I’m not allowed to look at certain Web sites, especially if we have guests around, and that’s fine. But other than that, shouldn’t I have the freedom to do what I want to a certain extent?
This is why I’m so disappointed to hear that there are now various attempts at trying to make sets of rules up surrounding the use of social networks. The New York Times reports how a new book called 140 Characters is attempting to become the style guide for users of Twitter. And this is just one of a handful of books in a similar vein being released soon.
This self-described “Style Guide for the Short Form” contains pearls of wisdom such as bathroom tweets, describing how you shouldn’t inform your Twitter followers about bodily functions. The book is said to “revolve around eight key lessons from the Twitter universe, such as the importance of simplicity, honesty and humor.”
I’m sorry but what? Twitter is the epitome of simple and uncomplicated social networking. You follow who you want, other people follow you if they want, and you have conversations – either with yourself or, more often than not, with others. It’s not brain surgery or rocket science and doesn’t need a style guide, a set of rules, or anything in between.
There is one portion of the book I think could be useful, and that’s the dictionary of Twitter lingo. Even regular users can be caught out by someone using a new or unknown term every now and again. So a directory of the meaning of words such as retweet and twoosh could be a Godsend.
But enough with the rules. The Web should surely be the one last bastion of freedom in this instruction-obsessed world we now live in. If I want to update Facebook or Twitter with a description of my latest bowel movement, then I should jolly well be allowed to.
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February 14th, 2009
I’d love to read about your bowel movements Dave.
February 25th, 2009
It is all a bit funny that etiquette stuff. If people don’t like my tweets, they don’t have to follow.
Though I do feel a bit gutted when I follow someone and they don’t follow back even though we have similar interests. Particularly if I have tweeted to them personally and made an effort to engage. But regardless, they by no means should have to because ‘it is an unwritten rule’.