Overposters

A Guide for the Overposters: Writing the Unwritten Rules of Social Media

This is for the 1% of your friends responsible for 99% of your feed, a special group of people still getting the hang of Facebook or Instagram. We are quick to unfollow them, but maybe they just don’t quite understand the rules. 

To help, we have put together a guide of the unwritten rules of social media. So before your next big muting session, consider ways to share with your overposters any of the following tips:

1. Frequent Facebook updates are a no-go.

We all know that we check Facebook regularly, but when done it shouldn’t be advertised. Save those witty statuses for another day, friend, we’re still busy liking your first one. However, if you’d like to consistently share your thoughts, this next one is for you:

2. Twitter is a safe place to post as often as your heart desires.

This is the place to share your wit. Are you a standup comedian looking for a place to practice some of your material? Or maybe a mom with a hilarious kid, and you want to share the things he or she says. There is room for you on Twitter.

3. Keep content light.

An occasional post about something you believe strongly in is okay, but if everything you write has an emotional, political, condescending (etc.,) tone, you are probably making your followers uncomfortable. We want to know how you think and feel, but remember, the internet is forever. Some feelings shouldn’t be published.

4. Keep content original.

Recycling the funny joke of another Tweeter may be tempting, but it’s annoying and technically a crime punishable by law (don’t worry too much about that though). It’s easy to try to chase favorites, but just like in dating, if you are being yourself the good ones will come to you. When you like a joke, retweet it!

The next rule is very similar to #3, but there is an important distinction:

5. No manual retweets!

We know you aren’t trying to take full credit for our tweets when you do this, but putting our tweet in quotation marks and posting it yourself just seems fishy. For the well-seasoned tweeter, nothing is more annoying than someone piggybacking on your genius without actually giving you the credit for it. Also, with each new update Twitter makes manual retweets harder, so trust us on this one.

6. Don’t (properly) retweet or share too often.

Now that we’ve learned the importance of a ‘real’ retweet, make sure it isn’t done too often. We’d also like to remind you that this applies to Facebook, too. “Sharing” too many posts that you have seen and liked will drive the people who love you crazy; they are friends with you for a reason!

7. No more than one photo of your kid (or you) per outfit.

This rule is mostly applicable for Instagram and Facebook. We can tell your kid (or you) is (are) cute from the angle of the first photo you posted. We promise. If you don’t believe us, see rule #2 and sign yourself up for a Twitter account.

8. No pic stitches!

Here we’ve got a rule that is pretty exclusive to Instagram, but an important rule nonetheless. You know that you’ve only got one post a day, but let’s say you took 3 incredible photos today that you want to share! DON’T smash them together. With or without the cheesy white border, Instagram photos are already small. Use your pixels wisely by choosing your favorite of the three and sharing that. Bonus: with the new update you can even share photos that aren’t perfect squares, so get to Instagramming! (... Just not too often.)

For the pros:

9. Keep your stories short and sweet.

Do you have a Snapchat? Chances are, if you don’t yet, you will soon. So we figured we’d throw in the cardinal rule of this newer app for you savvy snappers. Here your friends want your constant selfies, but keep those Snapchat stories under 50 seconds long. Especially if you are at a concert.

And now we’d like to note that all rules were meant to be broken. We’ve given you 8 rules as a guide for more polite social media habits, but understand that sometimes exceptions will need to be made. Just remember, they should be exceptions, because we’ve given you the rules!

Now tell us! Did we miss one? Do you disagree with us on any of these tips? Have you shared one of these rules with a friend? Give us your story at ***class email address***.