TechRadar.com has a great piece on the Top 15 things you should never do on Facebook. I happen to agree with most of them, while some are just filler.
Here’s a few I thought were spot on:
1. Use Facebook mail instead of proper email
Are you silly? When you Facebook mail me, I have to log into my real email to find that I then have to go and log into my Facebook account to read and reply to your message. If you’ve got my real email address, please use it.
7. Write on a wall instead of communicating privately
The driving force behind the success of Facebook is… vanity. People love the idea that others are watching what they’re doing. Tell me this: for what reason would you invite someone to a private party by writing on their wall, other than to show off to all the people on their friends list who you don’t want to come? It just makes you look like a tit, so don’t do it.
10. Upload drunken pictures the morning after
Have a little common sense. If you go out for a big one on a Wednesday night, posting humiliating, drunken photos of your friends on Thursday morning is a recipe for disaster. Because when I call in sick at 9am, the last thing I want my boss to say is: “I’ve seen the pictures of you crawling in the gutter last night. I’m not amused or impressed, now get to work!”
11. Joining ridiculous chain-mail groups
Why do people insist on joining groups such as “On the X of May, everyone has to panic buy carrots”? Come on people, how stupid are you? There’s one group on Facebook devoted to nullifying the vegetarian moral crusade, and it’s called: “For every animal you don’t eat, I’m going to eat three”. That’s a good group name. “I think Ryan Seacrest is the best presenter ever” is not.
If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest taking a look at my piece on social networking best-practices here – Want to be President? Better shut down your Blog, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts
Hey I’ve done some of that myself but come to think of it, twas stupid. Good tips. Here is another one: Do not send your dear friend an annoying new app that gives you karma, gifts, and even trades u for money. I do appreciate the fact that my friends come to invite me and send me presents. I love it but some companies and some app developers give us these horrible stuff that is time consuming and totally useless. And the worst thing is that you feel your disappointing your friends by not replying.
Carlos, that is a great point! I should have added that, glad you did. The “pieces of flair” applications that everybody sends me, to buy and sell their profiles, or to add fishbowls, might be cute. However, they needlessly share information with third parties, and are in effect, really just spam. Thanks for chiming in!