A Gentleman’s Guide to Social Media
A Gentleman’s etiquette with regards to social media has become an important aspect of a gentleman’s day, due to the increasing social interaction we now have through this communication medium. We have to observe that social media has become a valuable communication portal: It is how we keep in touch with our friends and relatives. We no longer take the time to pen a letter or, in some instances, attend events that you would normally due to work and other commitments. Our Gentleman’s guide Mr James McLeod has concentrated on 3 Social Media outlets, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
A Gentleman’s Appearance
A Gentleman’s profile picture should observe the following rules for non-professional social media sites. The profile picture should be of yourself, or yourself and others, and should depict your personality. This will help with friend requests and remember to be truthful with your photo: a “photo shopped” you may look good on the internet but when you meet in real life the first impression of you will be one of disappointment.
Profile pictures on LinkedIn should always be a headshot of yourself looking your best in a professional capacity and never a company logo. Remember people meet people, not logos.
A Gentleman’s Friend Request
You’re not obligated to follow or friend anyone. But try and keep business and personal life separate, as not accepting a friend request can be taken as an insult. This can be done by simply using a space in your name. I use James Mc Leod on non-professional social media sites and James McLeod on LinkedIn. If a work colleague can’t find you, then they can’t be offended.
If you decide to unfollow someone, don’t publicise it, just unfollow and give an explanation to that person by private message if you believe it is required.
A Gentleman’s Status
A status does not need to be updated every 5 minutes and people really don’t need to know what you are doing every second of the day. Make your status updates important and remember to engage with your audience. Do not boast on social media and remember that jealousy can destroy a friendship. Over sharing can be also ve
ry dangerous, never use social media to complain or put others to rights. The betterperson resolves issues face to face and not behind a keyboard.
LinkedIn should never be used for personal use. Use LinkedIn to promote your company or industry, not yourself.
A Gentleman’s Tagging
Before uploading photos of a person to the internet you should always ask permission and this also applies to “tagging” people’s location at an event or place. Remember they may not want their locations and social activities known and this also could be seen as being ostentatious.
Close
In closing I present you with these questions;
Are you being positive, polite, and inspiring?
Are you positively contributing to the online community?
Regards
James McLeod
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