Today, you can find many people on social media who just do a brain dump no matter what condition their brain is in, and it can make them look really bad. When I find people doing things that I don’t like, who are not practicing proper etiquette on Twitter and Facebook, etc., I either simply un-follow them or un-friend them. It’s that simple.

Here are 4 tips that are just what Mama said…

1. Think before you post. Whether you’re posting a comment on another person’s blog, creating your own blog post, making a tweet, a Facebook comment, a Facebook post, it doesn’t matter. Think before you post. If you’re having a bad day or something’s getting you down, create in draft mode and do the posting, the actual publishing later. You’ll thank yourself in the morning. A good question to ask yourself, “Would it bother me if my Grandmother read this?”

2. Be professional in your manner. The best way to be looked at as an idiot online is to just go out there and be a fool. Be professional. Be courteous to other people. The same types of professional behavior that you would use in an office and or business environment, you want to use on social media. The accepted forms, greeting people properly, not butting in on conversations, not immediately running up to someone to sell them your product. Practice your professional manner online just the same as you would as in person.

3. Follow the terms and conditions of the program or platform you’re using. I was just recently asked a question, “how do I get Facebook to unblock the number of friend requests I can send?” I found out that basically what the person was doing was spamming, and Facebook’s terms and conditions don’t allow that. They only want you to make friend connections with people that you know. You may meet someone in an event, send them a friend request, and they may not get to that friend request until later and they mark you as a spammer. They just forgot who you are. Keep track of your invitations. Follow the terms and conditions of whatever platform you’re on, whether it be LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, any of them. Make sure you follow the terms and conditions, or your account could be shut down.

4. Mind your manners. I don’t know how many times I see people where I honestly believe they don’t understand how they’re coming across, but they’re coming across as ordering people around. Mind your manners. Use please and thank you. There are a lot of abbreviations for the P’s & Q’s which makes it really easy when you don’t have a lot of characters. You still need to mind your manners.

When in doubt think back to what Mama said and you’ll probably be OK, because what mama said is true on Social Media too!