facebook Archives - Page 4 of 4

10 Ways to Be Less Annoying on Social Media

We all have those people on our Facebook or Twitter that annoy us to death with their irrelevant photos and emotional status updates. Truth is, we can all be pretty obnoxious once in a while.

While I’m not in the business of changing human behavior, I do believe there are a few habits we can all take to heart. Here are a few simple ways to be slightly less vexatious:

*Note, this list is based on the opinions of myself and 5 other people. Obviously, this is all subjective, so take this advice with a grain of salt.*

10. Keep it short (Facebook)

This isn’t a problem for Twitter, obviously, but just because a Facebook post can be forever long, doesn’t it mean it needs to be. A few words can have far more impact than paragraphs of them (we just don’t like to because it actually takes more effort to write less).

9. Post less (Facebook and Twitter)

People are easily annoyed. Seeing two statuses on the same page of 10 or 11 is annoying. Exceptions are when you post photos and maybe do a quick status afterwards. Otherwise, you come off like you are talking to yourself, and no one finds that pleasant.

Twitter is a different beast. You can certainly get away with 3 tweets within a few minutes of each other, but when people see you taking up most of their feed, they will most likely unfollow you.

8. Be less Personal (Facebook and Twitter)

I don’t mind if someone posts the occasional passive-aggressive status update. If that helps you vent, by all means go for it. You cross irksome territory, however, when these posts come to be expected from you.

A good rule of thumb is to abstain from making your status or tweet personal, unless you’re actually writing on someone’s wall or tweeting at them. This is because constant emotional posts come off as desperation for attention.

If you’re looking for help or support, contact someone directly rather than broadcasting it.

7. Be varied (Facebook)

Posting about the same thing all of the time wears on people. Just think about the frustration of seeing someone constantly posting photos of their kids.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your life with people, especially something exciting like marriage, a new baby, or even a new relationship. Just try to post other things as well. After all, too much of anything is unbearable.

This is also true for funny things you share. E-cards and statuses that have obviously been ripped off of other websites are fun every once in a while but get old fast.

6. Cut back on invites (Facebook)

If you really want someone to play a game or try an app you really love on Facebook, message them about it instead and talk about it. Blanket invites do nothing but bother people, and it makes me personally dislike whatever I’m being asked to try.

Event invites are similar. Be strategic about who you invite. Would they really want to go to this event? Yes, this is harder than just sending out 1000 invites all at once, but just think about how many annoying situations you are preventing when you take the extra minute to filter your invites.

5. Talk about yourself less (Twitter)

You can definitely get away with this on Facebook, but Twitter is very different. Follow the 70-20-10 rule:

70% of your tweets: sharing links, relevant info or retweeting.

20% of your tweets: starting real conversations and communicating with others.

10% of your tweets: talk about yourself.

4. Have a reason behind messaging someone (Facebook)

Please don’t message someone, “Hi.”

If you want to catch up, put some more effort into it. “Hey man/girl, we haven’t talked in a while! How’s your new job?”

3. Have a better reason behind DMing someone (Twitter)

I hate direct messages on Twitter. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even read them. This is because people only use them to sell something. “Go to my website for blah blah blah!” “Did you know your SEO is blah blah blah?”

Listen, if you really want people to discover something that is beneficial to them, be more creative. Mentions are a big step forward. “Hey @JonNegroni! Thanks for the follow. I checked out your site and it’s great. Hope you’ve liked mine as well!

See, that’ll actually get me to pay attention because you’re coming off as a human, not an annoying spam-bot.

2. Don’t unfollow people after they’ve followed you (Twitter)

Nothing is more annoying than when someone unfollows you after you’ve positively responded to their initial follow. It’s just rude. If you want to grow your Twitter base and maintain a good ratio, stick to unfollowing the people who’ve ignored you.

1. Don’t announce that you’re about to unfriend a lot of people (Facebook)

Some might disagree with this, but hear me out.

What you’re saying: “Soooo I cleaned up my friends list today! If you can see this, congrats on making the cut!”

What you’re really saying: “Be grateful we’re still friends. I can get rid of you like that.”

See, this can really come off as snobby when you announce to everyone on Facebook that they just won some arbitrary competition for your friendship that some of them might not even care about. You’re basically announcing that your friendship is pretty conditional, which may be true, but it’s not smart to just broadcast that.

If you’re going to make a cut to your friends list, keep it on the DL. It’s much classier, and the best part is you’re going to avoid hurting someone’s feelings accidentally.

Hope this list helped! While I may be frequently guilty of breaking the above standards, I am confident that we are a step closer to being less annoying online. Cheers.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me)

5 Social Media Rules to Live By

by Jon Negroni

There are a lot of social media rules out there, but they really only cater to businesses, brands, and social media managers. What about writers, bloggers, and young professionals? Well, here are 5 rules that I think most new professionals can benefit from implementing.

Oh yes, keep in mind that I break these rules all of the time.

5. Show more love than you receive. Unless you’re a household name, your presence online is really just a numbers game. The more love you give out, the more people will reciprocate.

4. Use your own image as a profile. Your picture is the first thing people see when they look at your Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It says a lot about you, probably more than you know. Not having one, or just using the default unfortunately makes others think that you’re lazy, or not confident enough to share what you look like with us. That might not be true, but it’s the cold truth of what people think. In some cases, your logo can be appropriate, like in WordPress, but for sites like Twitter and Linkedin, we want to follow people, not shadows.

3. Either be good at writing, or find someone who is. Your words are the second thing people see, even on YouTube. Good grammar and just plain wit in your writing goes a long way in establishing credibility and branding yourself. Do whatever it takes to learn good copy, proofread, and maybe even find someone who can help you.

2. Create content just as often as you share others’. I talked about this earlier in the week, and it still rings true, especially on Twitter. People don’t like following someone who only retweets. They want to read your tweets, hence they followed you. While it’s great to show love and share the work of others (while crediting them of course), it is just as effective to put your own ideas out there.

1. Be genuine by being simple. It’s pretty obvious that coming off as genuine and honest helps your personal brand, but many still miss the mark. This can be because they’re trying to do too many things at once. Simplicity is better. This is easy on Twitter, when you’re forced to keep tweets to a certain amount of characters, but it can be tricky when navigating other social media sites. Shoot for saying more in a sentence then you could in a paragraph. That’s what people respond to, because chances are, no one is taking the time to read your 1000 word essays on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Writing this, I couldn’t help but think of other helpful idioms, but the title says “5” and I’m sticking to it. If there is one last thing I can say, however, it’s that you need to take a break periodically. Social Media, like everything else in the world, follows a progressive rhythm. Taking days off and regrouping your thoughts is a beautiful way to perfect your own, social media rhythm.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me)

5 Reasons Why Social Media Won’t Kill PR

by Jon Negroni

I’ve often heard it said that social media and public relations are merging and becoming synonymous. “The New PR” if you will. I typically hear this either from college students or professionals speaking out of context.

Indeed, social media has become integral to public relations, and for the better, improved it. One-way-communication by means of the press release and press conference is no longer the norm. We’ve found it easier to create and sustain relationships with our constituents by means of effective control over social media outlets.

That’s the danger, though, isn’t it? Classic PR seems to be fading into irrelevancy these days, at least in the eyes of those who operate outside of the profession, especially those in advertising in marketing. Peers of mine have often regarded PR as a shell of what it used to be, and public relations professionals becoming social media managers rather than directors.

Sure, I’m a social media manager, so I get that point to a degree, but the concept of public relations being overwhelmed by social media is nonsense, and here are 5 reasons why.

5. Social Media Managers are not Publicists

Facilitating online communities is completely different from so many other aspects of PR, especially publicizing Yes, publicists get a bad rep, but that doesn’t change how good they can be at their jobs. They are just as essential as agents, and you can’t maintain the image of a prominent businessman, politician, or celebrity without a publicist.

4. Social Media only Addresses Consumers (for the most part)

There are some exceptions to the above statement, but for the most part, social media is focused on the interests of consumers and the general public. Social media does little to foster the relationships an entity may have with the government, investors, employees, and especially the press. For many PR pros, this is a “duh” moment, for they constantly fixate on more than just social communication.

3. Social Media can be Difficult to Measure

In many cases, social media is not as easy to prove effective to the powers that be. When it comes to ROI and actually driving sales, social media can be difficult to build a foundation on because it is reactionary communication. It functions in the same way that word-of-mouth does for advertisers. We create the message and pick the channels, but we can’t always see the fruits.

There are ways around this, and I’m not saying that social media is not beneficial (quite the opposite actually). I’m saying that we are not yet at a place where social media can be dissected comprehensibly on a chart, and most PR pros don’t want to take the risk of building their ROI around social media impressions alone.

2. The World is Bigger than Social Media (Right Now)

So many of us live in cities and towns, so we forget that it’s a big world out there. Even within the states, we have to constantly remind ourselves that not everyone flocks to the internet as their source of reference. People still read newspapers and respond better to billboards than sponsored stories. It’s how the world works.

In time, millennials like myself will rely on “outdated” concepts such as (who knows?) cell phones and commercials. Social Media won’t kill PR because not everyone in your audience is using social media. Simple right?

1. Good Social Media Needs Good PR

Ideally, social media is about transparency, effective communication, and relationship-building. For PR pros, that sounds pretty familiar to what is essential about PR. Social Media is more than just a tool of PR, it is a product of it. The idea of instant, transparent communication being out there for the whole world to see is working for many people because many people rely on good PR.

It’s not just about the product. It’s the image and how the image is presented. Without the fundamentals and structure of high quality public relations, social media is just another bulletin board at your local coffee shop. With the right tools, however, it can affect more than just a handful of coffee drinkers.

The two subjects need each other. Be sure to watch how social media evolves in the coming years, and we’ll see just how the profession of PR changes with it. I am confident that both have a bright future.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me)

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: