Social Media Etiquette

Social media interaction is in many ways a part of everyone's daily lives. And since it is a communication medium with every single person in your life, it is important that each one of us understand the proper ways to behave online.

Would you do the following in a face-to-face interaction?

* Acting all close and spilling your secrets to someone you barely know?
* Be self-absorbed and consistently talk about yourself w/o regard to everyone else around you?
* Randomly approach a friend and ask for favors -- repeatedly?
* Constantly announce to the world what you are doing (even the littlest things: I am walking, I am eating..etc)

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may want to visit a refresher course on social media etiquette specifically Facebook and Twitter. Just because you are behind a monitor in your room doesn't mean that you can do and say as you please -- no holds barred.

Facebook
1. Randomly add people just because you have more than 2 mutual friends.

Many users like to keep their Facebook to their circle of friends and family or at least to people they have acquainted to in the past. If you are looking to make friends, properly introduce yourself when adding them. Don't always assume they know you -- especially when they, well, don't.

2. Tagging individuals in items that you sell.

I am severely annoyed by this ever since online sellers started invading Facebook. I like online shopping A LOT but I really hate it when people tag me on pictures that are totally unrelated to me. If you are selling something, send a message with the link to your album rather than annoy your friends and flood their walls with weight loss products.

3. Publicizing private conversation on a wall post.

There is such a thing as too much information. Even though you know everyone on your Facebook, have a little sense of privacy and use the messages feature to discuss private matters.

4. Harassing people to "like" your post.

Facebook contests are used as a marketing strategy of some businesses to make their product known. In effect, "contestants" request their friends to "like" their entry for them to win the contest. This is really fine with me, but harassing your friends and constantly sending them messages for you to win is just plain rude. One simple request is enough, but please..for crying out loud, huwag pilitin ang ayaw!

5. Abusing application invites.

Some people are just not that into games. Personally this is really fine with me bec I do enjoy some Facebook games, but I have encountered some people who really force you to click the application invite just to increase their "neighbors." Again, stop harassing people for your own advantage.

6. Spamming.

Facebook spam and scams are consistently increasing mainly because some are too naive to understand that not all that they see on their friends' feeds are true. For the last time, there is no application that will allow you to know who viewed your profile, you will not win an iPad by clicking the damn smiley pic, and you will never see Justin Bieber nude. Get over it!

Twitter
1. Mundane tweeting.

Tweets such as "I'm sleepy!" "Eating breakfast.." "About to sleep, good night!" may be interesting to some, but 90% of your followers could care less about the fact that you are eating or that you want to sleep. As much as possible, kill non-sense tweeting and tweet with purpose. Maybe you would want to revise your tweets with: "Breakfast at Banapple. This Banoffee pie is amazing. A must-try!" Always consider what's in it for your followers -- give them a chance to react to your posts. After all, there's really nothing much to reply to "I'm sleepy," right? :)

2. Using Twitter feed as chatroom.

I used to do this actually, but ever since some famous people started following me, I am now conscious with what I tweet and I tell my friends to just BBM me. Generally, conversations that are exclusive in nature should be kept private using chat platforms. Twitter is a broadcast medium, and although it empowers you to use the @ symbol to directly talk to individuals, it doesn't mean that you and your friend can flood your mutual followers' Twitter feeds. Using @mentions to talk to someone is absolutely fine, but everything should be kept in moderation.

3. Constantly asking your followers to follow your friend.

"Guys, follow my friend @Twitternewbie! Thank you! Pls RT" -- I mean seriously, why should we? Unless your friend is someone famous or is tweeting VERY interesting stuff, then please save yourself some time and effort because no one will follow your friend back. Revise your tweets with: "To my UP Diliman MMA classmates, follow Prof @Twitternewbie!" or "My friend @Twitternewbie tweets the funniest stuff about cheesy pick-up lines, follow him he's hilarious!"

4. Avoid Internet drama.

Broadcasting your how stupid your boss is, how your ex cheated on you, or how your colleague is having an affair with someone from work is a risky risky business. Not only will it make you look pathetic, it will also make you look unprofessional.

5. Tweet nothing but RANTS.

Expressing disappointment or frustration over something is fine every once in a while. But as I have said, everything should be kept in moderation. I recently unfollowed someone because I got really annoyed of her constant negative tweeting. Who would want to constantly read stuff like "F*ck you! You ruined my day!" "You really think you are pretty?! Ew!" "Lecheng buhay to!" "I am a bitch and I have a right to because I am hot." Irritating right?? And seriously, BEING A BITCH IS NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF.

Personally for me , it all boils down to three basic rules:
1. Respect the community.
2. Listen to others.
3. Be accountable for your actions.

Always remember that social media communities are real relationships with real conversations among real people. As such, social media interaction should be treated with respect as your personality reflects on it. Is it really that much to ask for people to be a NICE person, whether face-to-face or virtually?

The Effects of the RH Bill, Bigotry Style

I recently came across a poster on Tumblr.com with a tagline that says: “When Reproductive Health Bill becomes a law, it can result in what we call D.E.A.T.H.S.” It then went on and on that legalizing the bill will result to divorce, euthanasia, abortion, two-child policy, homosexuality and same-sex marriage (thus the aforementioned acronym). At the very end it said, “If we care, we should think.”

First of all, I am neither a medical student nor a law student. I am a writer, and admittedly, while I mostly understand the RH Bill, there are parts of it that go over my head. And even though I know that the bill has its flaws and there are parts of it that I do not agree with, I am still in favor of it. Why?

“If we care, we should think?” Clearly someone is not thinking. Divorce and euthanasia were not mentioned in the bill. As for abortion, it is clearly stated in Section 3m that abortion is still a criminal, punishable act. It also says that the RH Bill seeks to prevent abortion in Section 4g #1 in the definition of the term “Reproductive Health Care.” And while it lists two children as the ideal family size in Section 16, it also states that “attaining the ideal family size is neither mandatory nor compulsory. No punitive action shall be imposed on having more than two children.” The bill intends to increase awareness on contraceptives, but it is not enforcing the two-child policy at all. Overpopulation in the country is very real, but still, you can have a dozen of kids and procreate all you want, and the government will not question you.

And while we are on the topic of contraceptives, many anti-RH Bill people say that contraceptives promote more sex, and that more sex equals decreased morality. Contraceptives and casual sex have been around forever. Morality has been compromised time and time again. It doesn’t automatically follow that contraceptives will lead to casual sex and decreased morality. I’ve known about contraceptives since I was in sixth grade, and I don’t engage in casual sex. I also know friends who won’t even kiss a guy because they are saving it on their wedding day. It only goes to show that the existence of contraceptives does not affect someone’s principles.

It baffles me that homosexuality is even included in that poster. Can someone enlighten me on what is wrong with homosexuality? Is it because a passage in the Old Testament says so? Well, the Bible also says that you can’t wear clothes made of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19) so you better check the tags before you buy anything at Forever 21. You can’t touch a woman who has her period or else you will be considered unclean (Leviticus 15:19-20) so don’t hug your mommy or your sister or your girlfriend when she has her period. See? We don’t follow those.

I have a lot of gay friends and they are some of the most talented, kindest, most loyal people I know. They are good people. If there is anything we should learn from the Bible, it is not to judge people who are different from us just because they are different from us. Christianity calls us to be Christ-like. Tell me honestly, what do you think Christ would do?

And lastly, it stated in the poster that if a priest refuses to marry a homosexual couple, the couple will have a power to demand the priest to court and file a case. Now, the debate on same-sex marriage is very broad and may constitute an even longer debacle than the RH Bill, but I hope that the maker of the poster would realize that nobody would expect a priest to marry a homosexual couple – let alone penalize him. Homosexual marriage is clearly against the teachings of the Catholic Church, and believe it or not, the state respects religion. Does civil marriage ring a bell?

I used to be a debater and I love rebuttals from people who don’t agree with where I stand on. Believe me, I respect differences in opinions a lot more than ordinary people do but the poster just screamed bigotry. Whoever made that clearly isn’t well-informed of what he is arguing about. Can somebody send him a copy of the bill please?

Read the full text of the controversial RH Bill here.

Disclaimer: This is an article I submitted to my prof last semester regarding the controversial bill. I know several friends who are against the bill and I respect everyone's opinions -- I just saw this document while cleaning up my drive and I decided to share this. :)