Facebook has come a long way since the days when you needed an accredited .edu email to register. Today, with 1.11 billion active users, member’s standards for appropriate online behavior are slipping and some companies can’t quite yet grasp the simple rules of proper Facebook engagement. To help you avoid such social media shame, here are 11 things you should never do on Facebook—ever!
11. Clutter your friends’ newsfeed. Links, photo shares, and constant status updates will have your friends ‘hiding’ you from their timeline. Limit yourself to one status message per day, and save the real-time updates for Twitter (or your diary).
10. Bombard friends with requests. Nagging people to join your page, cause, groups, or even asking friends to participate in a quiz which promises to reveal whether their unborn child will be a boy or girl, will get you blocked quicker than you can say “hermaphrodite.”
9. Fudge ‘Likes’ on your clients’ pages. Authenticity is key, so refrain from asking your friends to ‘like’ your clients’ pages. With the same sentiment in mind, don’t personally post on or promote your clients’ page.
8. Vent about work. Insulting your boss, collegeaues, CEO, or clients is probably not the best way to keep your job (or get promoted). Remember the age-old phrase “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? Well keep that in mind,vbite your tongue, and don’t post anything that could be used against you in the court of law.
7. Make Facebook your soapbox. Don’t make your friends uncomfortable by flooding their inboxes and feeds with event requests, app requests, or passionate diatribes about your political and religious opinions.
6. ‘Friend’ your client. It’s not very professional to send your client a Facebook friend request, unless you have an existing relationship with them OUTSIDE of work or don’t mind listing “former employee of [your company name here]” on your profile.
5. Overshare. Do the phrases “pillow talk” or “TMI” mean anything to you? Take the dirty details of your romantic relationships, how you just ate your feelings (including a pound of cookie dough, bag of Doritos, and a large Domino’s pizza), or how you went to the gym, met a guy at the gym, and he hasn’t called you in a week, offline.
4. Post controversial content or photos. It may seem like common sense, but think twice before you post anything that reveals questionable behavior or habits (does Michael Phelps ring a bell?). Avoid posting photos of too much skin, you in your underwear, excessive alcohol, your wild party habits, or, for heaven’s sake, anything illegal!
3. Tag embarrassing photos. The scenario goes like this: you just got back from spring break in Mexico with your friends and you’re ready to revisit all of those outrageous photos from Carlos’n Charlie’s and Señor Frog’s. You press ‘upload’ and page through the album until you get a call from a friend who just got canned for the pics you just posted online. Poor, jobless friends = no one to go back to Mexico with next year.
2. Upload an old profile pic. Even if your chin has doubled since college, or you need a few rounds of Botox, make sure you being honest with yourself and your friends. Don’t post a picture from 10 years ago and attempt to pass it off as a recent photo unless you want to end up on an upcoming episode of “Catfish.”
1. Friend request strangers. Facebook is not a popularity contest, and the amount of ‘friends’ you have doesn’t define who you are as a person. Instead of sending friend requests to random people, try only sending them to the people you actually know.
We shared our top Facebook faux pas— now share your biggest pet peeves or social etiquette advice with us in the comments section below!