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The Personal Blog of Philip Andrew D. Mayol – Cebu Blogger

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series)

As a continuation of my previous blogging tips post on “The Social Media Etiquette”, I guess it is just right to conclude this with the last part of this discussion. If you haven’t checked the Part 1 of this series, you can check through this link after you’re done reading this part. Now, let’s move on to the second and last part of this Blogging 101 Series, more specifically on this topic.

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series) | Skip The Flip
Social media, social media [Photo credit: thestoryroom.com]

Social media has become a huge part of my blogging and my “socializing” in general. I have even met friends from another country via Facebook and Twitter. But if you come to think of it, social media these days has become an avenue to express frustration and disagreement. There are even quarrels and fights on the Internet. Well, it is normal (or can I say that really?) because it is now one of the many ways to communicate to people.

There’s life on the Internet

The Internet is a good thing: it makes you closer to family and friends who are physically away from where you are now; it provides information and updates on the current news; it gives you a place to express your opinion and feelings. On the other hand, it is a bad thing in so many different ways. That is why we should be very careful when getting involved on the Internet because it is not what you think it is at first.

There are people whom you do not know that can see what you post (most especially the personal details), they can drop comments on your status updates on Facebook or reply to you on Twitter. Instagram can be a deceiving place to post pictures as well. You might be encountering people who are rude and condescending.

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series) | Skip The Flip
Many people bully others over social media [Photo credit: truthmovementnews.com]

Some people would say to just disregard them, but as human beings, we cannot just “forget” about these things with a single snap of a finger let alone not being emotional and being so sensitive on what we receive from random people online.

Life on the Internet is both easy and hard, same as how we roll our lives offline.

12 Steps Checklist For A Good Social Media Etiquette (Part II)

Note: Numbers 1 to 6 on this post.

7) Think if it is okay to open up private/sensitive information. From what I’ve mentioned earlier, the Internet has become a place to express ideas and opinions. You can freely say what you want to say and post your thoughts through a single click. But no, the Internet can be dangerous.

From my previous post, “The Pros And Cons Of Being A Blogger”, which you can read the full details here, I have experienced on Facebook that I have been catfished. What I mean is, there’s a random person who pretended to be me probably because that person found out that I have friends who are celebrities. Yes, those people you watch on the television or stare on printed ads and billboards.

I will not name them to keep our mutual relationship in private (but you might have seen pictures of me and them together on my personal Facebook account) and I always avoid to get involved to their other matters that do not concern me.

What I know about why this happened, the “poser” pretended to be me because he (or she) tried to message friends and ask them for their personal contact numbers. This is very challenging for me, and I am trying to have minimal contacts with my “celebrity” friends because of this. To be honest with my readers and followers, I made friends with these people because we’ve met in person or have shared the same interests. It is not because they are celebrities. I am thankful that my friends have a full understanding of this situation because they have a slice of this cake on their own.

8) Make sure that your message is clear and understandable. Don’t become that blogger who shares confusing information let alone the deceiving one. There are what we call “satirical” blogs that publish blog posts that entertain readers with fictional stories using existing and real characters. This kind of writing aims to be sarcastic to the current situation and to mock others.

I do follow satirical blogs, however, I do not share them on my social media accounts because I know there are some people who are easy to be convinced by the information they contain. This is only for pleasure reading, not for information sharing.

Some satirical blogs, though, put a disclaimer on their “About Us” page about their blogs being satire. However, let’s just be honest that there are people who don’t read this part of the website or blog and get deceived by what they have read online. The worst scenario is that people get confused with just the title of the blog post and do not spend some time to read the content. Then, they share it on Facebook or Twitter even without reading the whole story.

As Ms. Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach had answered on one of her beauty pageant questions, “Think before you click.” That is very true and very important to social media these days. People should learn to do this.

ALSO READ: What Social Media Is Today

One becomes a blogger to share ideas and opinions. And one blogger must share correct, clear, and easy-to-understand messages. It is never my aim to provide conflict to my readers, and hope every blogger is, too.

9) Mind your emotions when you post your message. It is alright to be emotional at times. From what I have learned in dealing with different kinds of people, bottling emotions can be stressful. It will lead you to become who you are not, and also leads to pretending to be fine even though you are the other way around. Showing and sharing what you feel is healthy, but you should always remember that there are the proper time and proper place for that.

If you want to know further about emotions on a daily basis, you should know and learn more about “Emotional Intelligence” or sometimes related to Emotional Quotient (EQ). Others say that this is way better than having high Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series) | Skip The Flip
What’s your emotional intelligence on social media? [Photo credit: safeandtrained.com]

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. This is very applicable not just to the personal aspect of life, but also the professional. This is something to learn when you always deal with other people familiar or not to you because sometimes, showing your emotions to the wrong person at the wrong place and at the wrong time is critical.

When I learned EI by heart for work (I train people to deal with people in the workplace), I have mastered the attitude of showing my emotions to the people I trust, and to the proper place and time. I do not outburst emotions (both happy and sad) publicly if I believe they are not appropriate or not relevant to the situation. This is some sort of discipline (and this helps me not to rant too much on Facebook or declare affection about private matters on public settings).

This is difficult to learn, however, Emotional Intelligence is not rocket science. It will take time, though, but it will not take you years to realize that emotions are both healthy if shown properly and destructive if declared at the wrong moment.

10) Lessen (or avoid) too much abbreviation. Actually, it’s all fine if you use abbreviations. It’s just that usage of such writing technique can be overwhelming (and sometimes wrong).

If your blogging goals include bldg. your content or your following, you should concentrate on creating your blog inside a bldg. that is quiet and conducive for working.

Look at what I’ve done there. No!

The abbreviation “bldg.” is being used when you want to mean by the “building” (infrastructure), not the “building” (the process to create). Even explaining this to you is very confusing it took me awhile to compose the right approach.

What I am trying to say is to lessen (or avoid) the use of abbreviation on your blog post to also lessen (or avoid) confusion to your readers. This is not about being a “grammar police” or something. The use of abbreviation on your post can sometimes be confusing to you and your readers. So, I would strongly advise avoiding abbreviations (unless necessary).

There’s also acronyms, which in this case, is another story and another struggle. Is it WYSIWYG? See!

11) The message should not be too much reactive. Similar to #9 tip, it is also fine to react because we are entitled to our own opinion. It’s just that people do not consider being reactive to things on the right place and the right time. Again, the Internet is an open avenue of ideas, thoughts, and opinion.

But having this kind of behavior on the Internet, most especially on social media, others would tend to unfollow you. This results in a decreasing number of following and your efforts will be put to waste.

Yes, I believe in the idea that everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, if you are too reactive to all things (because they are people who have a thing or two to say to everything), your follower, if you’re a blogger or a public figure on the Internet, will unblock you.

Sounds familiar? I know you are doing this to people who irritate you on Facebook because, again, they are stressful. People like this are the “red button” of activating stress. And we don’t want stress. Not on social media.

12) Avoid unnecessary venting out of emotions. This is also related to #9 and #11. This does not say that you don’t vent our your emotions. I want to make it clear that I am advising you to avoid doing it, most especially to sensitive and stressful topics.

During my talk at the CBSTalks: Back to Basics, a seminar about blogging, which I participated last November 26, 2016, I discussed the topic on blogging as a new medium of online communication. To become a leader in blogging, a blogger must possess five characteristics.

Common to everyone that influence is the primary characteristic of a leader, in any form, however, there are other characteristics that a blogger should have. You can read more about it on my previous post.

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series) | Skip The Flip
Social media makes it easy for people to express their identity [Photo credit: beveragedaily.com]

RELATED POST: The 5 Characteristics Of A Blogging Leader

If you tend to be always venting out your emotions on certain topics, the positive side of this is that people will think of you as wise, someone who is knowledgeable about current events. You can be brave to some, too, because others will think that you have the courage to voice out your ideas and risking everything just to give a point to things.

On the other hand, you should put in mind as well that not everyone is inclined to this kind of behavior, and you must be considerate about it. True that you cannot please everyone, but think about your goals for your blog: to grow your following and build your content. It can be difficult for your part to achieve these goals if you only put yourself in only a pair of shoes.

They are a lot of pairs of shoes to fit when you are growing your network and following (or audience). Thus, I can say, blogging is a challenging one.

On my previous discussion on Part I of The Social Media Etiquette, you need to even balance out your contents you publish on your blog or on your social media because your audience members belong to a different gender, age brackets, and status in life.

The Social Media Etiquette (Part 2 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series) | Skip The Flip
Avoid blogging stress by maintaining good social media etiquette [Photo credit: jeffbullas.com]

READ: The Social Media Etiquette (Part 1 Episode 3 – Blogging 101 Series)

Always remember to promote positive vibes on social media. The Internet is a good place if people are emotionally considerate to each other.

So, I guess this is it. This blog post will be the last part of this specific episode. However, expect more episodes in the future as I add more topics to tackle for the Blogging 101 Series.

If you want to read the other parts of the Blogging 101 Series, check the menu tab on the top of this website or click here.

Follow me on my Facebook Page for more features like this or on my Twitter as I usually share my blog links there. If you fancy my random photos and photography stint, I have an Instagram account.

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