Social Media Etiquette

With the discussion of Reddit and Tumblr last post, I wanted to talk about something that is potentially a little more relevant to my target demographic: social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat and the unwritten rules that have been established around them.

First and foremost, I’d like to say that this post was inspired by my friend’s sister saying that I was old after she scrolled through my Instagram feed. That’s right; I got called old by a 14 year old. Anyways, I mentioned that I’ve had my Instagram since grade twelve, it’s really not that old, but according to her, that wasn’t the problem. Apparently the problem was that I had so many posts. (Currently I have 101 posts)

According to her, the new thing is to only have a couple of posts on your feed, and then delete them or delete your account once you hit too many.

For a second I didn’t say anything, but was hung up on the fact that I was being called old. I don’t even know how to do my taxes! But then my mind starting kicking into gear, and I realized that she sees me the same way I see my older friends on Facebook. I was breaking the unspoken social cues that we designate to our social media.

For example:

1. Don’t send people a Snapchat individually if you’re putting it on your story.

2. I have to admit I literally do this all the time and no one can stop me. I spit on your rules society.

3. Never post more than two Instagrams in 24 hours (Even that is pushing it.)

4. DO NOT SHARE MINION MEMES ON FACEBOOK

5. Exception to this rule is if you’re a 40 year old mom. They seem to love those yellow spawns.

6. Like to minute ration on Instagram; if for the first hour you don’t get at least a like a minute, you delete the photo and try again later

7. Again, I spit on your rules society.

8. If someone mentions you in a tweet, always favourite it to acknowledge that you read it.

9. The less noticeable the Instagram filters, the better.

10. Don’t be that person who updates your Facebook status every couple hours. That’s so 2008.

11. Hashtags are lame now.

12. Don’t follow more people than follow you.

13. No more game requests on Facebook. Please. Release us from this hell.

That’s just what I could think of off the top of my head. Honestly, I don’t even know where half these ‘rules’ started from. It’s like some kind of crazy intuitive knowledge, just one day the knowledge appeared in my brain and never left.

However, each generation seems to have different etiquette. It’s like as each generation discovers or grows up with a new social media, the rules evolve for how they want to use it. I’m sure if you asked my friend’s 14 year old sister she would laugh at me for even mentioning Facebook on my list. (Apparently that’s for old people too. Call me Grandma.) My mom would laugh at me mentioning anything other than Facebook and follow it with “I just don’t like it. Too many things to keep track of.” You know what’s even harder to keep track of Mom? The never-ending Minion memes you share on your wall. It’s like middle aged parents are rediscovering all the ‘so random’ quotes my generation saw as preteens. It’s really bad, extra yellow déjà vu.

I guess this is just another part of social media discourse that we can look at. We’ll eventually look back on our lives and see what apps or websites we used and how we used them, to the point where that in itself will define a time period. Definitely very cool, but at the same time a little freaky how futuristic things are becoming.

To wrap things up, are there any other social media norms that you guys have heard of? Or abide by yourself? Let me know in the comments!

(Man, I feel like I’m starting to sound like a YouTuber with these closing remarks... Oh well!)

#socialmedia