Have you ever shared something online without checking the details? Well, at one point in our social media life, we might have been guilty of doing something like this: sharing without verifying. But the thing is, there are actually proper ways of sharing contents online. And with social media being a part of our daily lives, we have become so used to it that we might not be realizing that we’re doing something wrong.Â
Although we are already living in a digital world where social interaction can be done online with just a few clicks and hits, it still needs to be done right, especially if it’s sharing content online. Most of us have probably heard of the term “social media etiquette,” which talks about the do’s and don’ts when using social media. But with all the fake news being shared online, it’s now easy to come to cross and spread all sorts of misleading information. This is why in this article, we have listed down what social media sharing etiquette wants to highlight on.
1. Respect Your Online Audience: Don’t Overshare!
Like any other social etiquette, it will teach us the prescribed way of interaction with people, it would also tell us to respect other people’s territories. And in social media, it’s just so easy to go on a sharing spree without thinking about what it would do to other people’s feed.
There’s nothing wrong with sharing online, in fact, it becomes a bridge for people to find something that they have in common, or share something that could be informative, but you just have to keep in mind that it’s not only you who’s in it. Moderation is the key to avoid oversharing. Social media isn’t a personal diary that we can go to and share anything, especially when we’re emotional. Even businesses that market their brand online set a limit to the number of posts that they share daily. So we don’t really have that much excuse to overshare, right?
2. Check Before You Share
Oftentimes, not checking and verifying a certain post online can lead to misinformation or what we call fake news nowadays. This is particularly not good if there are already a lot of people who have seen it, and also didn’t get to properly read what the post was all about. Learn to read first and check for further information before you share it. Remember that the headline of an article isn’t enough to verify the information.
You can also ask yourself things like these before you share anything online:
- Will this post be taken out of context?
- Will this offend anyone?
- Is this news valid?
- You can look for other related articles from official sites and accounts of news outlets.
- Is this going to be helpful to people?
3. Personal Things Aren’t Good to Share Online
Oversharing doesn’t only talk about flooding feeds with gossip articles, photo-upload overload, and sharing baseless news, but it also talks about sharing personal things about you that shouldn’t be shared online and giving negative comments on posts out of impulse. Like we mentioned above, moderation is the key to avoid oversharing.
You can’t be too complacent with the personal information that you’re sharing on social media. As you try to respect other people’s privacy, you too should protect your privacy and control what you say online.
4. Be Responsible With What You Share Online
This is quite simple, but some people still miss this out. You should be responsible in such a way that you have to think of who will get to see or read the post that you shared. A lot of people go on social media everyday, and what they get to see in it can affect them at some point. So it’s best to practice being mindful of what you share.
Take note that even if a lot of people agree to share it; it doesn’t mean that it’s good. At times, you have to assess whether what you’re sharing can benefit not just yourself, but also the people around you.
What we share online matters! So we have to think before we click on that share button. Oversharing is not caring.
If you need help on social media marketing, contact us today and we’ll be glad to assist you!
