Six Common Mistakes to Avoid on Social Media
https://admateacademy.blogspot.com/2017/09/six-common-mistakes-to-avoid-on-social.html
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The Internet has bridged the global communication gap, providing the fastest, most cost-effective, efficient messaging and voice technology ever. The methods and speed at which we communicate have experienced tremendous improvement in the areas of video calls, teleconferencing, Snapchat messaging and VoIP calls, which has been used extensively as the new mode of communication.
Mobile phones are now all-encompassing, providing us with digital accessories for both on the road and office-based business needs. Currently, there are over 3.8 billion mobile phone users and 2 billion of them are mobile social media users, all part of the 3.1 billion social media users worldwide.
Presently, there are over 200 recognized social media sites, and the most popular of them are Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Smartphone usage have helped to increase the number of social media sites due to the availability of affordable Internet data services, which have increased the ease of communicating with friends, loved ones both far and near.
The high mobile social media usage has both negative and positive implications; therefore, it is important to understand the social media code of ethics, which we can also describe as social media etiquette, though not undr any regulatory control.
The list below are some basic guidelines for social media users:
1. Using Mobile Phone While Charging
Some mobile phone users keep their mobile devices charging while still in use, believing that it will help the battery not to run down. The issue of mobile phones charging has led to the introduction of various types of mobile charging devices, including solar-based and car chargers.
What raises the most concern is direct current charging, while using the phone, and this has caused many fatal accidents and deaths. It is a good safe practice for users to always keep mobile devices unplugged while making a call or browsing to avoid accidents. Desktop computers are much safer than smartphones in this regard.
2. Staying Online Late at Night
Staying online late at night is not very healthy for adults because it causes sleep disorders. That is on the health side, but looking at the social aspect, it is also not ideal to keep late night on social media, especially those who are of age and married.
It is quite unsettling when you see your spouse online at odd hours of the night, chatting regularly with persons you do not know. There have been incidences when spouses have catfished their partners using pseudo names and fake photographs to start an online relationship through dating sites. You can imagine the shock and embarrassment, when you eventually come to know you have been fletting with your own sponse all along.
Behaviors such as this could lead to distrust and tension in relationships. Surprisingly, many people who are on social media are ignorant of the fact that their social status show when they are active, and that other people know when they are online.
3. Posting Fake News and Aggressive Content
Social media has all sorts of contents, and it is increasingly becoming difficult to separate useful ones from the garbage. The share feature has made it quite easy to distribute content from other sites as well as from favourite pages. Therefore, you find in circulation different types of content, including fake news and obscene adult graphics. It is best to avoid being part of those who share just about anything they can find on social media.
4. Spending too Much Time on Social Media
Social media is addictive, and many people get themselves entangled in social platforms, by either chatting or browsing all day and night. Most times, this affects their productivity and many people have lost their lives because they focused on their phone while driving instead of concentrating on their path. A report released by The Express Tribune in 2017, shows that social media is more additive than cigarette and alcohol.45
In the workplace, so many people have lost their jobs; because they get distracted and spend too much of their productive time socializing online, thereby, failing to meet work timelines and deliverables. Everything in life requires moderation; getting carried away and spending most of your valuable time on social media, while paying less attention to those things that are of utmost importance in your life, really does not speak well.
5. Posting Private Picture
Social media is truly a free media because it allows so much liberty for users to publish whatever they want in the privacy and comfort of their homes. This freedom has often been abused, and sometimes even to the detriment of the very individual. There have been cases when people have been fired from their jobs because of what they posted on social media.
It is also a bad practice to post naked photographs of little children, even if they are your offspring. These children may group up to despise you for that action due to unfavorable reactions from friends as well as the public.
6. Subscribing to multiple social media sites
Most people can barely keep up with more than three social media accounts at a time. In spite of the fact that some social media sites provide social sharing features that allow users to simultaneously broadcast messages to different sites, subscribing to too many social media sites eats into the time you have to spend on other productive activities because you end up spending time trying to update each one of these sites.
Often times when you use social share to distribute your post, it messes up your sites by repeatedly broadcasting the same messages from various social share sites.
Conclusion Social media is good, but abuse can be harmful, both to your health and legally too! It is a best practice to moderate the use of social media. For more about how to use social media, read ‘Social Media 101: Dos and Don’ts,’ in one of my books titled, ‘Reasons Entrepreneurs Must Embrace Digital Marketing.’
Mobile phones are now all-encompassing, providing us with digital accessories for both on the road and office-based business needs. Currently, there are over 3.8 billion mobile phone users and 2 billion of them are mobile social media users, all part of the 3.1 billion social media users worldwide.
Presently, there are over 200 recognized social media sites, and the most popular of them are Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Smartphone usage have helped to increase the number of social media sites due to the availability of affordable Internet data services, which have increased the ease of communicating with friends, loved ones both far and near.
The high mobile social media usage has both negative and positive implications; therefore, it is important to understand the social media code of ethics, which we can also describe as social media etiquette, though not undr any regulatory control.
The list below are some basic guidelines for social media users:
1. Using Mobile Phone While Charging
Some mobile phone users keep their mobile devices charging while still in use, believing that it will help the battery not to run down. The issue of mobile phones charging has led to the introduction of various types of mobile charging devices, including solar-based and car chargers.
What raises the most concern is direct current charging, while using the phone, and this has caused many fatal accidents and deaths. It is a good safe practice for users to always keep mobile devices unplugged while making a call or browsing to avoid accidents. Desktop computers are much safer than smartphones in this regard.
2. Staying Online Late at Night Staying online late at night is not very healthy for adults because it causes sleep disorders. That is on the health side, but looking at the social aspect, it is also not ideal to keep late night on social media, especially those who are of age and married.
It is quite unsettling when you see your spouse online at odd hours of the night, chatting regularly with persons you do not know. There have been incidences when spouses have catfished their partners using pseudo names and fake photographs to start an online relationship through dating sites. You can imagine the shock and embarrassment, when you eventually come to know you have been fletting with your own sponse all along.
Behaviors such as this could lead to distrust and tension in relationships. Surprisingly, many people who are on social media are ignorant of the fact that their social status show when they are active, and that other people know when they are online.
3. Posting Fake News and Aggressive Content
Social media has all sorts of contents, and it is increasingly becoming difficult to separate useful ones from the garbage. The share feature has made it quite easy to distribute content from other sites as well as from favourite pages. Therefore, you find in circulation different types of content, including fake news and obscene adult graphics. It is best to avoid being part of those who share just about anything they can find on social media.
4. Spending too Much Time on Social Media
Social media is addictive, and many people get themselves entangled in social platforms, by either chatting or browsing all day and night. Most times, this affects their productivity and many people have lost their lives because they focused on their phone while driving instead of concentrating on their path. A report released by The Express Tribune in 2017, shows that social media is more additive than cigarette and alcohol.45
In the workplace, so many people have lost their jobs; because they get distracted and spend too much of their productive time socializing online, thereby, failing to meet work timelines and deliverables. Everything in life requires moderation; getting carried away and spending most of your valuable time on social media, while paying less attention to those things that are of utmost importance in your life, really does not speak well.
5. Posting Private Picture
Social media is truly a free media because it allows so much liberty for users to publish whatever they want in the privacy and comfort of their homes. This freedom has often been abused, and sometimes even to the detriment of the very individual. There have been cases when people have been fired from their jobs because of what they posted on social media.
It is also a bad practice to post naked photographs of little children, even if they are your offspring. These children may group up to despise you for that action due to unfavorable reactions from friends as well as the public.
6. Subscribing to multiple social media sites
Most people can barely keep up with more than three social media accounts at a time. In spite of the fact that some social media sites provide social sharing features that allow users to simultaneously broadcast messages to different sites, subscribing to too many social media sites eats into the time you have to spend on other productive activities because you end up spending time trying to update each one of these sites.
Often times when you use social share to distribute your post, it messes up your sites by repeatedly broadcasting the same messages from various social share sites.
Conclusion Social media is good, but abuse can be harmful, both to your health and legally too! It is a best practice to moderate the use of social media. For more about how to use social media, read ‘Social Media 101: Dos and Don’ts,’ in one of my books titled, ‘Reasons Entrepreneurs Must Embrace Digital Marketing.’
