Facebook has more than 400 million active users and I am one of them. It is a wonderful way to stay in touch with far-flung friends and family. I view Facebook as a virtual world, where my wall is my home. Of course, many more people have access to it than my real house, but still they are all people that I would love to socialize with in real life, time and space permitting. It is a new enough medium that I find even people who are fairly comfortable with online media do things on Facebook that might be considered impolite, at least by yours truly. Here I present what I feel is proper etiquette on Facebook.
Don't be a peeping Tom. If you are regularly peeking into somebody's window, it would be considerably less creepier if you knocked on the door and said hello. That is to say, if you log into Facebook regularly to read your friends' statuses and see their photos, you should also occasionally leave a comment or a 'like' to indicate that you have been there. I find it very unsettling when I meet somebody in the real world, and they remark on something they saw on my Facebook page, and yet who themselves seem to be completely dormant on Facebook. There are people who are truly dormant and the only time they login is to accept 'friend requests', and this is not meant for them. However, if you have been looking around then please leave a trace.
Edit. Good editing always produces more pleasurable results. This has been proved without doubt by many films and books. Digital cameras give you the freedom to take hundreds of pictures of your recent vacation. That does not mean that all your "friends" want to see all 500 of them. If you are going to enthrall us with your vacation pictures, take an extra half an hour to select twenty or so that capture the essence of your vacation, and then label and caption them nicely. We will all think you to be a much smarter and considerate person.
Tell before taking. I post a video that you enjoyed and then you go ahead and share on your wall. Facebook makes it easy to do and I find it flattering that you enjoyed my post and found it worth sharing. Before you do, however, take a polite second to at least click the 'Like' button on my wall for that video or post a comment on it.
Don't ignore children. If your somewhat close friend posts a cute picture of her child, for heaven's sake, say something about it!
Do you think I can add anything to this list? Do you think there are people you would love to share these with. Wink, wink!
Raising kids in a non-native environment while constantly worrying about striking the right balance.
